


Striking Back

by Natasja



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Backstory, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Other, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2017-12-30 18:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 43,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natasja/pseuds/Natasja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If everyone believes that it's only a matter of time before you turn evil, how long before you give up trying to prove them wrong? If people call you useless, how far will you go to prove otherwise? Bullied by future 'heroes', how hard will you eventually strike back?</p><p> </p><p>Not all Super-Villains started out that way, and Heroes aren't always the good guys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

Warren Peace had been four when his father was exposed as a Super Villain.

  
  
Barron Battle had fooled everyone, up to and including his wife, Warren's mother, but no one was willing to give Firestar, noted as one of the finest Heroes in her generation, the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't like married couples ever kept secrets from each other, after all, and surely she must have realized what even his closest friends had missed.  
  
Citizens gossiped about it, wondering if Firestar had known and kept it a secret for love of her husband - a drama worthy of any celebrities - or if Baron Battle had decieved even his own wife. Even most of her Fellow Heroes were not willing to conceed that possibility, but instantly withdrew their support from the grieving Irene Peace, and whispered about how long it would be before Battle's son followed in his father's footsteps.   
  
None of them saw Warren as a four-year-old boy who had just lost his loving father, only as the spawn of a Villain who had managed to stay hidden for years, doomed to become a copy of his father. No one knew, or was willing to admit, who spilt the details to the public media, but it wasn't long until everyone, including Warren's teachers, found out.

* * *

When Irene discovered that Warren's teacher were considering 'preventive measures' (such as segregation from his peers and limiting his education) to stop Warren from possibly trying to take over the kindergarten, she barely managed to point out that anyone stupid enough to believe that was obviously not suited for teaching anyway, and withdrew him. Luckily, the Chinese family who owned the resteraunt two doors down were also having problems with discrimination and prejudice, and were happy to split the cost of home-schooling, making it affordable for Warren and their own two children.  
  
By the time things calmed down (read: the Commander finally stopped bragging about his role in the whole mess to anyone who would listen) three years later, Irene had exactly two People left in the entire Super-Hero community who openly supported her. Some old friends supported her discreetly, but most of them had their own families and/or positions to consider.

  
One was the Pied Piper, a sidekick turned Villainess turned lawyer. Her power of being able to communicate with and command horses and rodents, while near-invaluable for spying, had seen her as the object of ridicule, and she finally quit.  
  
Leaving her Hero dangling over a vat of acid was apparently enough to see her classed as a Villainess, but she had no taste for the widespread destruction characteristic of that class, and currently earned her living as a defense lawyer for Villains, and prosecution when someone made a complaint about how their property/physical wellbeing had been damaged in a Super Hero battle.  
  
In short, earning an income while cheerfully enjoying her own brand of petty revenge by making life difficult for the Heroes who had once mistreated her.  
  
The Pied Piper was the one who managed to reduce Baron Battle's sentence from 'Death Row' to four life sentences, with parole after seventy-five years (his third 'life') and visitation rights to his son until then.  
  
The other friend was The Cryptographer, a mostly-minor Hero who worked mainly in espionage, but was far too useful in general for the Super Hero Council to penalise for standing by an old friend. He was also the Pied Piper's husband, and father of their twin children.  
  
They were the ones who, upon Firestar's death when Warren was fifteen (The villain responsible, Extinguisher, didn't survive his encounter with Baron Battle in prison, and the Pied Piper had somehow managed to get his sentence reduced by a further ten years for the action) offered to Foster the Superheroine's son, and, failing that, get him emancipated and help him onto his feet.

The family whose children had been home-schooled with Warren could always use an extra hand, and Firestar had owned her apartment in full, so there was no worries about finding another place to stay. Warren's inheritance wasn't huge, but his father still sent support to pay for bills and schooling.

None of it made up for being essentially an orphan, though.

For a few weeks, Warren was the object of sympathy, until he started Sky High and got on the wrong side of the school's top bitches. Penny Johnson, Cloner and one-person Cheerleading Squad, did not appreciate being told that no, Warren had no intention of being another notch for her, and went running to her best friend Gwen Grayson, Technopath and Teacher's Pet, and both went running to the School Administration, decrying him as a foul-mouthed bully.  
  
Not a week into High School, and, despite being sorted into the Hero class (Sonic Boom was an old friend of Baron Battle and Firestar, one of the few who had quietly supported Irene and counted old friends as more important than current popularity) Warren was already back to being the School Outcast, Bad-boy, and Villain-in-the-making.  
  


* * *

Things did not improve much over the year, and would only get worse when Will Stronghold started the year after that, the entire school having them pegged as Arch-Enemies before they had so much as spoken to each other. Alright, so Warren didn't have high hopes either, if Will turned out to be even a little like his father, but still!  
  
Not that they would have had reason or inclination to speak to each other in the first place, but it was the principle of the thing.  
  
The Pied Piper and the Cryptographer's twin girls, Roisin and Alara, would be starting the same year as Stronghold, which was a mixed blessing. It was nice to have someone willing to spend time with you, but they wouldn't have anything except lunch together, and three 'half-Villain' children hanging around together would do none of them any favours.

 

 

 

 


	2. Power Placement and Partings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is Power Placement, a few surprises, and several not-surprises

 

Alara was nervous.  
  
It was their first day at Sky High, and she was already certain that Power Placement was going to be a disaster.  
  
Sonic Boom was known to be harsh but fair when it came to placing new students, even if most students didn't see it that way, and he looked out for the children of old friends. Unfortunately, while Roisin's ability to manipulate shadows, which people often mistook for telekinesis, had her almost guaranteed a place in the Hero class, no amount of favouritism would justify Alara joining her twin.  
  
Being able to manipulate the water inside things had a lot of potential, but Power Placement happened in the Gym, where there was a depressing lack of water outside drink-bottles, and at the moment, it took several minutes before Alara could manipulate the water in a human body to get anything more than a slight nosebleed.  
  
Warren was a Hero, too, which only made things worse, in a way. There was a precedent for two Heroes working together, but after a number of unfortunate instances, it had become unofficially against policy to pair family members up as Hero and Sidekick, so unless Alara made Hero, she would probably wind up like her mother; tagging along after a Hero with an over-inflated opinion of themselves, who saw Hero Support as someone to make them look good by comparison, and blame when things went wrong.  
  
Alara glanced at her twin, who put down the book she was reading and nudged Alara gently. "Hey, I don't care where either of us end up, and if it goes badly, you can always be Warren's Hero Support."  
  
That was true, especially since most starting Hero Support would beg to be paired with anyone but the son of Baron Battle, not wanting to be tainted by association. Warren was only a year older than the twins, and it wasn't unusual for Sky High graduates to take a year off to settle into their cover jobs and secet identity before becoming active Heroes.  
  
It also helped to know that as far as Power Placement went, Roisin would only care if someone tried to make Alara's life difficult for being a Sidekick.  
  
If Alara was nervous, Roisin was annoyed.  
  
Yes, she had the stronger, more impressive-sounding power. Yes, it was expected that the children of Heroes would go to Sky High before joining the 'Family Business'. Yes, she would work to become the best Super she could be.  
  
It was just that she didn't want to be.  
  
The twins had only been three when they witnessed how swiftly the Superhero community could turn on their own, but they spent the next three years watching 'Aunt' Irene become pale and drawn, leaving Warren in her parents care as she underwent interrogations and court appearances to determine her (non-existent) level of involvement in Baron Battle's crimes.  
  
They listened to their mother seethe about injustice and fools who didn't care to look twice as she Defended her old friend, insisting that it would have died down a lot sooner if 'Certain People' didn't persist in bringing it up at every public opportunity.  
  
Roisin certainly had no intention of standing by and watching as people were hurt, but she didn't want to make a career out of saving the world and playing nice with Heroes who already judged her for being the daughter of a Villainess.  
  
But, there was nothing she could do about it right now.  
  


Not yet.

* * *

She perked up as the bus jolted to a halt at the next stop, the twins having been the first ones on. She nudged Alara again. "Hey, want to see if we can pick families out?"  
  
Alara gave her a flat look that said everything. "Don't be absurd."  
  
Their father had said, more than once, that with the amount of students who have attended and graduated Sky High, the only way to know all of them is to get stuck with detention in the library when the person in charge wants to re-categorize the yearbooks.  
  
Or when someone has a class reunion and you can't come up with a proper excuse in time to get away from whoever wants to reminisce to anyone who will stay still long enough to listen. There was more than one reason that The Cryptographer tried to avoid the Commander whenever possible.  
  
Of course, it was that abundance of graduates that made it so difficult to track down the histories of those who went rogue and became Villains or Henches. Every school has its share of bullies and bullied, but there is a pretty big difference between normal schools and Sky High.  
  
In normal schools these people either go through serious therapy or wind up with drudge-work jobs. At Sky High, if bullies get caught enough times, they get kicked out and either drop off the radar or go Rogue. The Victims (usually sidekicks) often get past it once the bullies are gone, but sometimes go with the 'I'll-prove-I'm-better-than-you-by-becoming-an-arch-enemy-and-destroying-all-you-love' idea and become Villains themselves.  
  
There were days that Roisin saw the merit in the last idea, especially when there was a blatant demonstration of Hero-Sidekick inequality. She often wondered how many Sidekicks had the potential to be Heroes, but never got the opportunity to prove it. How many Heroes would be happier if they were not? How often could supposedly 'useless' powers mean the difference between winning and losing the day, in the right circumstances?  
  


* * *

Warren drove a flying motorcycle to school, largely because the school buses didn't go near the Paper Lantern, where he worked after school, but partially because he got fed up with all the stares and whispers that the other students seldom even bothered to hide when he was on the bus.  
  
It helped that his 'Aunt' Patricia, less than happy about him riding a 'death-trap' had quizzed him until he knew the motor laws of every state backward, forward and sideways, which had led the Transport Authorities to grant him an unrestricted license. The Cryptographer had shared his wife's sentiments, and contributed by making sure that the bike was in perfect working condition, down to the last cog.  
  
Despite that, the twins were not so fortunate in their choice of transportation, and were stuck on the bus. As their friend since childhood, Warren headed for the bus area to meet Roisin and Alara… and possibly scare off anyone who might be interested in Freshman Hazing.  
  
He got there just in time, as Speed and Lash (self-styled names for the stereotypical school jerks – their parents had not been that cruel) had corralled the students on the twins' bus and were demanding a fifteen dollar 'Freshman Fee.'  
  
A short, dark-skinned kid with glasses, who looked doomed to spend his entire school life as a favourite nerd-target for the 'Cool Kids', instantly protested, though the lack of confidence made it seem more of a question. "There was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook!"  
  
Gwen Grayson was slowly approaching, but Warren wouldn't count on her to defend a puppy without planning for dramatic effect, let alone a group of Freshmen. He cut Speed and Lash off with a warning fireball. "That's because there isn't one. Beat it, the both of you!"  
  
There was already a hint of Hero-Worship in more than a few eyes, but Warren had no intention of suffering the inevitable disappointment when they found out who he was and couldn't get away fast enough. A boy who looked too much like Jetstream and the Commander to be anything but their son practically guaranteed that he would soon be School Enemy #1.  
  
A general glare had most of them scurrying back, but Roisin and Alara smiling and giving him a return look that said they would meet later.  
  


* * *

Gwen Grayson, Student Body President and Queen Bee, gave a quick welcoming speech, and then took the Freshmen to the Gym, where they were treated to another speech from Principal Powers.  
  
Formerly Comet Girl, the Principal was strict but fair, and actually quite nice in informal settings. She had been in the same class as The Cryptographer, and they had remained on good terms. Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that having the Cryptographer on speed-dial saved Sky High a small fortune whenever a student's powers managed to fry the computer lab, but maybe that was just pessimism talking.  
  
The twins were a bit nervous about what Power Placement would entail, but had avoided the state of full-blown panic that a few others were in. Their powers had shown up early, and the fact that they were mentally-based/slow-acting had prompted their parents to expand the back-yard into a mini-obstacle-course. Super-Strength was only a problem if your opponent (or the large heavy objects they were throwing) could actually hit you, and agility was always a good talent to have, especially when dodging.  
  
Principal Powers finished her speech and whoosh-ed away in a ball of white light, replaced by the less-dazzling sight of Coach Boomer a.k.a. Sonic Boom. Coach Boomer was the stereotypical Gym Teacher; loud, abrasive and to-the-point. "Alright, listen up! My name is Coach Boomer. You may know me as Sonic Boom; you may not. Here is how Power Placement will work: You will step up here and show me your power, and yes, you will do so in front of the entire class."  
  
There were more than a few nervous looks among the Freshmen. Power Placement, which determined if you were sorted as Hero or Sidekick, was important enough to give anyone stage-fright. The fear of being laughed at if you had a weird or small power was even worse. The twins knew from their father that Sonic Boom did his best to sort by power, because putting someone with Superstrength in the same Gym Class as someone whose only power was mild empathy was nothing but a recipie for disaster.

Very few Freshmen saw it that way, though.  
  
The red-head next to the Commander's son was clearly annoyed at the demonstration methods as a scrawny redhead was pulled up. "What is humiliating him in front of everyone going to prove? This is so unfair."  
  
A good point, but the newest Stronghold made a better one. A Philosopher in the making, that guy. "If life were to suddenly get fair, I doubt it would happen in High School."  
  
But, you couldn't judge a student's power by their looks. The nerdy-looking shrimp turned into some kind of 'boulder-man', while a girl with a tough-chick attitude shape-shifted into a guinea-pig. Roisin nearly squealed over the cute little thing, but had a bad feeling that the guinea-pig-girl would try to bite her.  
  
There was also a Mimic, who scored points by turning into the Coach, a guy with acid-spit who switched from 'Sidekick' to 'Hero' when he melted a hole in one of the pillars, and a girl whose admittedly impressive acrobatics culminated in turning into a large ball.  
  
A tall kid with white-blond hair, Zach, got 'Sonic-Boomed' off the platform after making a big deal about his 'awesome' power and then (supposedly) glowing. Apparently it only worked in the dark, because none of the students, much less Coach Boomer, saw anything. Ethan, from earlier, turned into a puddle of goo, and the red-haired girl "didn't believe in using her powers unless the situation called for it."  
  
Three guesses where she ended up. First two don't count.  
  


* * *

About half-way through, there was a break for lunch. Passing Zach complaining loudly to his friends about being stuck as 'Hero Support', the twins avoided that group, getting into line as a slightly irate voice came over the intercom, requesting that Sidekicks stop ordering Hero sandwiches.  
  
Since neither of the two had been sorted yet, they grabbed Hero sandwiches anyway, frowning at the obvious segregation. Roisin sighed as they saw Warren and headed over. "You know, I thought we got past that stuff with the Civil Rights Movement."  
  
Alara shrugged as they sat down. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. Hero, Sidekick or normal human student, High School Cafeteria Food is uniformly horrible. I don't need to be a pre-cog to see a lot of packed lunches in our future."  
  
Warren looked up from aiming a particularly lethal stare at the Stronghold kid's table, trying to see how long it took to make him squirm. He always tended to be a bit on edge after visiting his father. "I'll see if I can bring leftovers from the restaurant tomorrow. Have you been Placed yet?"  
  
Roisin shook her head. "Not yet, though there's been an interesting variety of powers so far. We should try to be nice to Evanna, though."  
  
Warren finally looked away from glaring at the other table, most of whom looked seconds away from whimpering. "Who's Evanna?"  
  
Alara took a sip of her bottled water. "A very acrobatic girl who can turn into a large rubber ball. It would be amazingly useful for espionage in public settings, but I doubt anyone in Hero Support will suggest that level of pro-active."  
  
Warren and Roisin exchanged a glance, forced to agree with the assessment.  
  
"A reminder: There is no smoking on the School Grounds. Or freezing. Or bursting into flames. Would whoever froze the students on the lawn please report to the front office."  
  
Well, the PA system announcer was funny, at least.

* * *

Sadly, lunch never lasts as long as you'd like it to, and it seemed only moments before they were back in the Gym. It was certainly a large shock when Will Stronghold, son of the world's two greatest Heroes, didn't have a power, but Alara was too busy worrying about her own fate to do more than feel a bit sympathetic to his plight.  
  
Will was carted off to the med-bay, and Power Placement continued. Two Heroes and three more sidekicks later, it was the twins' turn. Roisin was called up first, and started by smashing the two nearest lights, giving her a bit more to work with. Coach Boomer didn't look too impressed with that, but changed his mind when he tried to drop a car on her; only to have it halted a full meter above her head. Tossing it around the Gym, while levitating herself, counted as just showing off, but it made the point.  
  
One Twin for the Hero Class.  
  
Alara's turn fared only slightly better than Magenta, the girl who shape-shifted. A few scattered water-bottles rattled and fell over, but all she managed to do otherwise was make Coach Boomer twitch for a few moments.  
  
One Twin for the Sidekick Class.  
  
After that, they were split up into two groups. Heroes followed a 'Brainiac' with a literally swelled head, while Sidekicks were stuck with the dubious pleasure of Coach Boomer's continued presence as we were dragged off on a tour of campus and a brief overview of what we would be learning.

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they settle in, and not everything is as they expected...

** Chapter Two **

A lot of what the Heroes would be learning sounded very much like normal high-school, only a bit more extreme.

Science was actually 'Mad Science', dealing with shrink-rays, toxins, radioactivity and crystals that made you weak or unconscious. Gym Class would be oriented around learning physical combat and saving civilians, with an actual competition called 'Save the Citizen', which was fought in pairs, with one pair being the villains, one pair being the heroes, and a dummy in the shape of a citizen suspended over a pit of razor-sharp rotating blades.

Roisin couldn't wait to get in there and prove to all of them that being a Hero was more than flashy powers and who your parents were. Her power was a bit flashy and she was proud of her heritage, but that didn't define her. Alara might not have much control over her powers, but years of playing in the backyard had made her a very formidable opponent, even so.

Being the Sidekick daughter of a former Villainess didn't mean that Alara wasn't every bit as good as the rest of them.

History went more along the lines of 'Heroes throughout History', specifically their rises, downfalls, more notable feats, and the villains that they faced. Their mid-term project would be an in-depth analysis of a past hero and what could be learned from them.

There was even a sub-topic in English that dealt with witty lines and comebacks when arguing with or taunting Villains, with extra credit for actual originality, rather than "Good will always defeat Evil!", a number of pop-quizzes on appropriate and inappropriate times and places for monologuing, and so on.

Meeting up with Alara while waiting for the School Bus, the twins compared notes. It seemed that there had been a small mishap with the Sidekick Teacher, so Coach Boomer spent the rest of the day showing them around and telling them what NOT to do.

The Rule Talk had been blunt, but far more informative than Gwen Greyson's 'Don't fall off the side of the school' talk. No starting fights, no mouthing off to teachers, no whining about being stuck as a Sidekick when they wanted to be a Hero, if we catch anyone in the act of bullying, there will be TROUBLE, etc.

* * *

 

The discussion continued all the way through the Bus Ride, down two blocks, and through the front door, where the sound of their voices drew their mother out of her phone conversation with her newest client to remind them that schoolbags did not get dumped on the kitchen table.

In the process of doing just that, the twins froze, and then dumped their bags in their room as their mother emerged from her study to ask about their first day at Sky High. Potential friends, potential arch-rivals, who needed to be coerced, tricked or blackmailed into not attempting to bully them… All the normal things that a good Super-villain mother should know about her children's school and social lives.

Knowing that in this case, Resistance really was futile, no matter how much parents needed to stop fussing over their children now that they were in High School, Roisin and Sally exchanged looks and started talking.

Patricia Rose laughed, stirring a pot of hot chocolate as the twins looked over their school-books, not having any actual homework yet.

The Paper Lantern was an all-hours resterant, and Warren had the after school/early dinner shift, which meant that he would be joining them for take-out afterward.

The Wu family, who owned and operated the Paper Lantern, were old friends, and paid Warren a little extra to deliver whatever the Cryptographer ordered as take-away. "I met Gwen Grayson the last time someone blew up the computer lab and your father forgot his lunch. Take it from an ex-villain: No-one is that obnoxiously sweet-natured unless they have some kind of plot up their sleeve."

Her amusement changed to a frown, "Besides, I can't help but think that she reminds me of an old classmate, except few of my classmates have kids, and of those few, Firestar is the only one who would have had a child old enough for Sky High."

Said child walked through the door at that moment, putting the bags on the kitchen counter and submitting to a hug and kiss from his 'Aunt'. "What about Mom?"

Patricia laughed again. "I was just telling the girls about how much Gwen reminds me of an old classmate, but your mother was the only Sidekick classmate I can think of who would have had Sky High-aged kids."

That sparked a memory as Roisin started opening containers, hearing her father's car pull into the driveway. "That reminds me, if Technopathy wasn't widely known back when you were at school, how did Dad get into the Hero class?"

The Cryptographer entered just in time to hear the question. "I cracked the codes on the remote used to drop the car on people, and made it not work. After very obviously staring up at a car that wouldn't drop, I fixed the remote with a very flashy touch. Since no-one could work out how I did either, they put me in Hero class."

Warren's smile was bittersweet as he pulled out plates. "I guess appearances really do count for more than facts, sometimes."

Patricia shut the cutlery-draw, frowning. "Are the other students giving you problems again, dear?"

Warren shrugged, glancing at a suddenly fierce-looking Roisin. "No more than usual. It was just the way that the Freshmen heard my name and instantly looked at me like I was going to go crazy and kill them all."

The Cryptographer scowled, but said nothing. Like Roisin, he preferred to think things through before speaking, while Alara took after the Pied Piper in her slow-fuse and acid-tongued fury. He and his wife had worried about the same thing in regard to the twins, but the three teens were in the same school now, and they would protect each other.

* * *

As with all 'Second First Days', the sidekicks started homeroom by sitting around and talking while waiting for the teacher, quickly straightening up when the door opened and an unremarkable man with blue eyes and greying hair walked in. "Good morning, class. Welcome to Hero Support."

He placed a stack of papers on the desk and walked toward a folding screen next to the blackboard. "My name is…" he ducked behind the screen and jumped back out again. "… All-American Boy!"

Alara blinked, suitably impressed. After seeing Sonic Boom as their Gym Teacher, and given that Principal Powers used to be Comet Girl, she and Roisin had theorized about their teachers being ex-heroes or ex-sidekicks, but _The Commander's_ Sidekick? It was beyond anything they had come up with!

All-American Boy slowly climbed down off of the desk, taking off his mask. "Of course, nowadays I mostly go by 'Mr. Boy'. This year, it's going to be my pleasure to help each of you to become the very best Hero Support you can be. Why, without Hero Support, there wouldn't be any Heroes!"

That was true enough. The Media might say different, but old classmates talked to each other, and reminiscing about how many times a sidekick had pulled a hero's fat out of the fire was a very popular topic when Patricia and her friends got together for coffee.

Those stories also contained some very pointed lessons on why you should be nice to your sidekick, because villains usually paid less attention to sidekicks and less effort in restraining them, but as Patricia had so clearly demonstrated, your Hero Support was perfectly capable of leaving you to get out of your own mess, if they so chose when you didn't bother to treat them with dignity and respect.

Mr. Boy continued, looking slightly rueful. "Alright, there probably would be heroes, but they would be very lonely. Very lonely heroes indeed. And… yes?"

The 'glowing' blonde boy had put his hand up. "Yeah, uh, when do we pick our costumes and code names?"

Alara couldn't help but feel relieved when Mr. Boy announced that their assigned Hero would be the one choosing their Code Name and Costume. The twins' father had mentioned that Heroes usually got to choose their own Sidekick, and she knew that Warren or Roisin would listen to her input.

With a mother who had been stuck with a code name from a children's tale, they had grown up hearing lectures about code names and how they affected public perception. Alara's code name would mean something.

With any luck, whichever Hero picked Zach would have enough sense to ignore the proposed 'Zach-Attack'. After all, a Code Name wasn't exactly a Code Name if it blatantly held half of your real name as well.

Then again, their mother had often complained about the number of times that the Sidekicks were the brains (or at least the Common Sense) of the operation, and how most Heroes had NO imagination, so maybe not. Ah, well; not her problem and Zach would just have to hope for the best.

Alara doubted that there was any malice in Will Stronghold's comment that he didn't know that Mr. Boy had worked for The Commander, but she also doubted that there was a single student who didn't squirm, cringe or look uncomfortable at Mr. Boy's crestfallen expression when he found out that the Commander's own son had never even heard of his existence.

It was one thing to lose touch when one partner went inactive. It was another to act as if they had never existed.

It was also a glaring contrast to Mach-Girl, Hero Support to the Cryptographer, who had been named the twins' godmother and who, along with her husband, alternated with the Pied Piper in hosting Friday Card Nights.

Thankfully, that line of conversation was cut off when the lights went out and there was the sound of an explosion nearby. Mr. Boy threw himself to the side with a shout of "INCOMING!", and the students instantly ducked beneath their desks.

The ensuring silence was broken when a soft green light began to shine from near the back of the class, and Magenta, the girl who turned into a Guinea Pig, smirked. "Oh, look, he does glow."

Zach grinned back at them. "Told you."

The teacher who had shown the Hero Class around the day before, Mr Medulla, entered as the lights came back on. "Sorry, a little misfire in the Mad Science Lab. No need to panic, unless you are a single-cell organism."

Precisely how Mr. Boy managed to cling to a metal fixture on the ceiling, look annoyed and speak calmly at the same time was an impressive mystery. "Mr. Medulla, we in Hero Support are trained never to panic."

His statement was unfortunately ruined when the fixture broke, sending him crashing to the floor, amid general laughter. Mr. Boy stood up again, pulling the waste-paper basket off of his head. "My Bad."

Mr. Medulla looked gently amused at the scene, hinting that not all Heroes were jerks to Forgotten Sidekicks. "I'll get the nurse. Unless she's also injured."

* * *

In the meantime, Mr. Boy wasn't the only one trying to prise a waste bin off of his head.

Roisin had never responded well to Power-snobs, or to people who insulted those she cared about. Larry, the shrimp who turned into a stone giant, had said that having a sidekick mother who couldn't even cut it as a Villainess would mean at least one loser offspring, even if their father was a hero.

Roisin had given his scrawny frame a pointed look, and commented that if it weren't for his powers, Larry would know plenty about being a loser.

Larry had powered up, and barely missed creating a head-sized hole in the ceiling.

Roisin had raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and used her own powers to slam the waste bin on his head as soon as he changed back.

It would have started a fight, if someone hadn't whisper-yelled a warning about the teacher's impending arrival, causing everyone to make a dash for their seats. The Hero homeroom teacher was the Memory Keeper, mostly known as Mrs. Ward. She was a telepath with steely grey eyes and a no-nonsense attitude, who started things off with a speech. "Welcome to Sky High. This Year, I will be privileged to guide you on the path to becoming Heroes in your own right. Having Powers makes you different. It makes you unique."

Alec, the boy with Acid Spit, raised his hand. "Yeah, we already know that we're the best, Miss, but what will we be learning? Please tell me that it won't be alongside the loser sidekicks."

Mrs. Ward stopped the enthusiastic cheers with a single icy look, thankfully not noticing how the shadows had flickered. "You may be stronger than some of your classmates, young man, but you aren't Heroes yet, and Hero Support is an essential part of being a Hero. Their powers may be different to yours, but that does not make them inferior. Quite the opposite, in fact, because working as a team makes you stronger. Failure to treat your Hero Support with the respect that they deserve, failure to work together, can make things turn out very badly."

At the last statement, Roisin couldn't stop herself from smirking in remembrance. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ward caught her. "Is something funny, Miss Rose?"

Roisin winced as the entire class turned to look at her. She hated the spotlight. "No, ma'am. It's just that my mother is the Pied Piper. She taught us that lesson early on, and a lot of her friends told us stories of when they were the ones who saved the day."

The Pied Piper's last mission was a quietly infamous tale that everyone had heard about, and some Heroes had been smart enough to take seriously. Mrs. Ward was apparently one of them. "Ah, yes. Quite the object lesson, that was. As I was saying, our powers make us special, but part of having a power is knowing how to use it properly. If I find out that any of you misusing your powers, especially against other students, I will not hesitate to hit you with detention for the rest of the year. Charity and respect start at home, or in this case at school, so I expect you to treat your fellow students with the respect that they deserve, just as I expect them to treat you the same way."

Roisin decided that she liked this teacher very much indeed. Mrs. Ward was about to continue when there was an explosion and the lights went out. Roisin wondered if it would necessitate her father being called in. Probably not, as the lights quickly came back on, and Mr. Medulla poked his head in. "A minor accident in the Mad Science Lab. Does anyone in here need the nurse?"

This was certainly an interesting start to the day.

* * *

Though Alara was in the same class as Will Stronghold, she had managed to more-or-less avoid him and the various others that followed him around like a lost puppy.

Evanna was nice, and the two Sidekick girls quietly got along, as did Roisin, but that was about it.

Isolation from pretty much the entire student body and frequent bullying from the upper years (at least when Warren or Roisin weren't around) also contributed to a not-very-nice start to the year.

This was partly due to both she and Roisin being quiet bookworms and thus more involved with books that the current social climate, partly because of their already-established friendship with Warren Peace, and partly because of the Pied Piper's general unpopularity with various superhero families.

Having turned evil because her assigned hero was a 'misogynistic scumbag', who seemed to think that everything that went wrong was his sidekick's fault, even when it quite clearly wasn't (such as a villain escaping when Silverblade had ignored his sidekick's repeated warnings that they were going the wrong way), the Pied Piper had been making life difficult for Heroes ever since she went inactive.

Granted, it was hard to dispute that several of the major heroes needed to have their egos deflated every once in a while, and the damage that some of them casually caused during their missions could be frankly devastating, especially with the Supers that went for brute force.

Trying to tell that to the Superhero Council, however, was generally an exercise in futility, so people went to the Pied Piper, instead.

Either way, the problem with being anything beyond a first-generation hero(ine) attending Sky High was that you were automatically judged by your parents. The Cryptographer was a relative unknown, and the Pied Piper was notorious. As such, Roisin and/or Alara were seldom the ones that came out best in disputes.

Of course, it didn't help that several upper-classmen had begun to travel in packs in order to outnumber the twins, and even Roisin couldn't take all of them at once before they tried to shove the twins into their lockers.

There were times that Warren and the twins wondered if Heroes would be nearly so popular, if people knew what they were like before they Graduated and had access to the Super Council PR Agents. . . . . 

 

 

 


	4. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the first day of High School goes about as badly as they had expected it to.

Visits with his father always left Warren conflicted. On one hand, Barron Battle was a Super Villain, and people were not supposed to feel anything except contempt or hatred for Super Villains. On the other hand, Barron Battle had once been a Super Hero, and was also a man who loved his wife and young son.

The people who had been killed or injured in the incident that exposed Barron Battle had been part of an 'Anti-Super' movement growing at the time, who hadn't grasped that a pacifistic, make-love-not-war attitude wasn't always successful, and who wanted a closer eye kept on people with superpowers. The problem was, their idea of 'A Closer Eye' had involved electronic tagging, CIA-level surveillance, and the details of families, cover-jobs and secret identities becoming available for public knowledge.

Since there was no way for Superheroes to deal with that, Super Villains were all for it, since it would make their job infinitely easier, and most of the other people in the Senate didn't care, Barron Battle had risked everything to become a Villain to take care of it. Sometimes, good people had to do bad things, like hunting down and neutralizing terrorists, to keep others safe. Sometimes, a friend must become an enemy in order to remain a friend.

Like the Klan Killer, who had saved countless lives when the KKK were spending their Saturday nights Lynching people, and had foiled two assassination attempts on Martin Luthor King, Jr, and King Kamayamayhem, who had diverted a Tsunami that would have wiped out a town (along with his then-current evil plot), however, the Superheroes had conveniently forgotten those little details when they put him on trial.

In fact, that information hadn't come out until recently, thanks to the Pied Piper, a Villainess who was the reason Warren still had one living parent and was allowed to actually visit and talk to him. After a year-long legal battle (and much whimpering from the five successive lawyers forced to be on the bench opposite the Pied Piper) Barron Battle was down to three Life-Sentences, rather than four.

That had been last night, after school and before Warren had to get to work. It had also been the anniversary of Firestar's death, so her husband and son had spent the visit exchanging stories about her.

It would have been emotionally draining even if it hadn't been the first day of classes, and if Warren hadn't been stuck attempting to fend off yet another girl who had convinced herself that she could 'redeem' him with her love. If he didn't feel that it would be far below his dignity, Warren would have given serious consideration to asking one of the twins to pose as his girlfriend, just to make the crushing airheads leave him alone!

He hoped that Alara and Roisin were having a better time of it than he was.

* * *

There was one perk to being in the Hero Class; namely that they covered a wider range of topics than the Hero Support. One of the more interesting classes was unarmed combat in PE, where they alternated between mixed pairings, and same gender pairings, sometimes splitting entirely into two groups.

For these classes, they had a substitute Gym Teacher, Assistant Coach Drill, who had once been Sonic Boom's sidekick. Whether the name 'Drill' was from her Cyborg abilities or from her uncanny impersonation of a Marine Drill Sergeant was a topic of much debate.

Today was one of the 'Two Group' lessons, and while she didn't know what the boys were doing, being requested to bring in a pair of high-heels gave a good idea of what the girls would be getting up to. Roisin was right, as Assistant Coach Drill paced in front of them. "Listen up! Flat shoes are fine for Gym class at Sky High, but your Superhero costumes will almost certainly have heels, and there will be fights where you won't have time to run home and change! So, you will be learning how to fight in heels, and no, I don't care how many times you fall over. Go suit up!"

The female heroes-to-be exchanged glances as they all pulled out their changes of shoes. Many of them had brought in stiletto heels, or ones with sandal straps, but others (most of whom had a female super-parent) had brought in more solid footwear.

Mrs Rose remembered this particular class from her own Sky High days, although Sidekicks didn't start learning how to fight or move in heels until Sophomore Year, and had taken both twins on a three-hour trip through the local shoe stores. After visiting more shoe-stores than she had known existed in Maxville, Roisin had finally walked away with a pair of charcoal suede knee-high boots with a solid two-inch heel. "Do you think they'll want us to start fighting right away?"

Isolde, a girl capable of flight who had formed a tentative friendship with the older twin laced up her own ankle boots, making a contemptuous noise. "Given that most of us only just started _walking_ in these? Nah, Mum said that we'll probably start off with learning how to run or navigate a balance beam in them first. I doubt we'll start fighting in them until we get through basic combat in normal shoes."

Another Heroine stood up, slightly shaky on her pointed heels. "Well, let's get this over with. Do you think we'll be judged on aesthetics, or functionability?"

Roisin steadied her, exchanging exasperated looks with Isolde. Honestly, the Hero/Sidekick segregation was bad enough that you didn't need more labelling, but there were times when she fantasized about adding a 'Moronic Minion' category. They were learning to fight in heels, so aside from perhaps colour co-ordination, why would anyone care what the shoes looked like?

Isolde turned out to be right, and they did start off with just running laps. Isolde won the first race, closely followed by Roisin and a 'super-speed' girl. This was largely because Isolde had joined the twins in spending most of the previous weekend running around the block in said heels, and accelerated speed was not a good thing if you couldn't keep your balance, so their 'super-speed' classmate, Alicia, had lost her advantage.

* * *

Alara had known that her father was in a great minority among superheroes, as far as the Hero-Hero Support dichotomy was concerned, but now she was really starting to appreciate just how different the Cryptographer was. When her father had attended Sky High, Heroes and Sidekicks were paired up after mid-year exams in Junior Year, so that they could switch partners if the pair proved totally incapable of working together. Silverblade and the Pied Piper had been the exception, for the sole reason that everyone else was happy with their pairings and had no desire to switch, no matter how much that pair didn't work out.

Mech-Girl had the power to stall any engine she wanted (excellent if you overslept and were about to miss the bus, or for stopping a villain's getaway car), but the Cryptographer had made sure that his Hero Support knew more than a basic utility belt and how to hand him a weapon.

Sadly, this was about all that the Freshman Sidekicks seemed to be learning so far.

To be fair, it was only a week or so into the year, and those with less than impressive powers would probably need a utility belt, and unless you could fly, grappling hooks would be very useful. Still, when a question on an 'English for Hero Support' test was: _'Holy _, _man!'_ (which depended on the context, ranging from 'rusted metal' to 'heartbreak') it tended to create the sense that you were not being taken very seriously.

Besides, Alara and Roisin had compared syllabi, and it seemed that the only thing that they had in common was Mad Science, and how to change outfits by ducking behind something for a few seconds.

It could be funny, from a spectator's point of view, especially when Zach ran through the 'Costume Change', and emerged in nothing but his boxers. Or when Ethan was trying to open one of his utility compartments, and accidentally released an inflatable life-raft from a compartment on the other side of the belt, which then blew up over the top of Mr Boy's desk, knocking the lamp off.

From the way Mr Boy's only reaction was to calmly raise his coffee cup out of the way, Alara would lay money that it wasn't the first time that a mistake such as that had happened.

* * *

Roisin tapped the end of her pencil against her lips as she considered the paper before her. It was her mid-term History Report, which she was starting as early as possible; a paper on whether the semi-divine Heroes of ancient stories were demi-gods, or just humans with powers, and then an in-class debate. Roisin favoured the Humans With Powers idea, but had to come up with written reasoning and a valid argument for that belief.

Alara's History report was to write an essay on the sidekick of an Ancient Greek or Roman Hero, and why they had been matched with that hero. The sidekicks had come up with a list of heroes, and then picked out of a hat. Alara had picked Iolaus, the first sidekick of Heracles. "But why can't I just say: 'Because Iolaus was a boy with dreams of grandeur, who apparently missed the fact the Heracles had just slaughtered his three cousins, and was the only person who would go near him'?"

At the other end of the table, Patricia didn't look up from making notes on an upcoming case involving someone trying to hack into the restricted portions of the Superhero databases. "Because your report needs to be more than thirty-four words long, dear, and your teachers will probably want a bit more elaboration on that theory. Roisin, how is your report going?"

Roisin scowled at her paper just as the Cryptographer entered. "I have my arguments and everything; I just can't seem to put it into words. Hi Dad, how was work?"

Greg smiled at the twins and kissed Patricia on the cheek. "Work was fine, same as usual. If you're stuck for phrasing, try writing down your thoughts, and sorting them into an actual report later. So, why do you think that the heroes in question were not descended from the gods?"

Roisin's pencil flew across her notebook as she replied. "A woman practicing adultery was a crime on par with murder back then; and still is in several countries. If the timing of the child's conception takes place before marriage, or when your husband was elsewhere or not participating in marital relations, then you had better have a very good reason to explain your pregnancy."

Alara snickered. "I should say so. But as divine beings, wouldn't the gods be held to higher standards than bedding anyone who took their fancy?"

Now it was Roisin's turn to smirk." The Greco-Roman gods were not known for their fidelity, and supposedly sired a multitude of children. Other Paleothons would sometimes bless a mortal woman, especially if her husband was infertile, by lying with them and giving them a child, like in the Hindu epic 'Mahabharata', where the king would die if he had sexual relations, so Queen Kunti recited a mantra that would cause a god to impregnate her, in order to give her husband children. Saying that your child was fathered by a god was far less likely to result in your death or other unpleasant consequences."

Alara frowned, looking up from her report. "But weren't Perseus and his mother placed in a box and dumped in the ocean after he was born? That's pretty close to a death sentence, if you ask me."

Greg replied to that from the kitchen, where he was starting dinner, since Roisin was busy writing. "Yes, but that was because of a prophesy that Perseus would be the cause of his Grandfather's death, which was why Princess Danae was locked in a tower in the first place."

Roisin continued her theories out loud. "Another reason is the nature of their 'Powers'. Super powers are largely heredity, unless you are a first-generation, but most 'demi-god' superheroes have powers or perform deeds with little to no relation to their claimed divine parent, which implies being a first-generation power, rather than divine parentage. Some other heroes claimed to be Avatars of a god or goddess, to explain their gifts, and would therefore have the same strengths, which raises all sorts of questions about which feats or deeds were performed by gods – the creation of the universe and/or human race, for example – and which were performed by powered heroes and mistaken for gods."

Alara was tapping her pencil against the table top. "I suppose I can't site nepotism for Iolaus and Heracles, either. Do you think that I could mention the popular regard of Iolaus as Heracles's lover, and see how the Hero-inclined students react?"

Patricia laughed. "You had better not. You will probably get several seconds of shock, but it could also lead to hitting on the potential sidekicks, with the reasoning of 'romantic ties' between partners. As most people want to be asked out with better reasoning than 'because we work together', I doubt that it will be appreciated."

Alara certainly wouldn't appreciate such a proposal, and Roisin's expression strongly implied that anyone who tried to use such reasoning would not like the consequences. Exchanging smirks that bore an eerie resemblance to their mother on the verge of winning a legal battle with lasting unpleasant consequences, the twins returned to their homework.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be just me, but can anyone name a costumed heroine over the age of thirteen who DOESN'T wear heels, even when fighting crime? 
> 
> Just to clarify, walking in heels isn't much different from walking in flat shoes, but running or fighting is. I know that everyone in 'Save the Citizen' wore pretty much the same basic gym uniform, but gym clothes are typically light material and loose design. Fighting in tight bodysuits, different material or design, or body armour would require a significant adjustment to your balance, changing the amount of force you put behind your movements, and in the case of armour, even restricted manoeuvrability. Shoulder pads, for example, would make several arm movements difficult or force you to move your entire body to pull off. Likewise, there are a number of costumed females who wear skirts or cloaks, which are very easy to get tangled up in if you don't know what you're doing.
> 
> As you can't expect Sky High graduates to instantly go from fighting in a Gym Uniform to fighting in a Personalized Costume, I am introducing sub-classes. Think of it as the difference between playing field hockey and ice hockey. One you play on a normal field, in normal sports clothes. The other you play on ice-skates, with significantly more protective gear.


	5. Living Down Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Future Superheroes are not so heroic when cameras are absent, and the infamous Cafeteria Scene.

Evanna had been dreading Sky High ever since she got her powers, knowing that their far-from-offensive nature was going to see her as a bullied sidekick within a day. She had inherited her power from her father, who could turn himself into a sixteen-pound bowling ball. It might not be too impressive, but at least he never faced four years of being kicked down hallways.

Evanna doubted that she would be so lucky. Even the other sidekicks would most likely leave her to it, since if the bullies were targeting _her,_ at least they weren't targeting _them._

That was why she had been so surprised when she not only made a friend in Sidekick class, who didn't put up with anyone targeting either of them, but also two Hero students. Warren was a bit scary, with his 'leave-me-alone' attitude and who his father was, but it was obvious that he would stick up for his friends. Roisin gave the impression of a nice person… who would make it look like an accident if you tried to hurt the people she cared about.

Sidekick class might not be nearly as interesting as Hero class, but it wasn't entirely bad. The first person who tried to kick her down the hall found his ankle grabbed mid-kick, and a yank from Alara flipped him to land on his head.

The trio who tried to slam the two of them into lockers found their positions reversed as their shadows moved to throw them into the lockers and slam the doors simultaneously, seemingly of their own accord – until Evanna looked around and spotted an un-amused Roisin.

When someone 'accidentally' drenched her homework, they were chased off by a fireball before Warren picked it up for her, radiating just enough heat to steam the paper dry.

Evanna decided that no matter where life took them, she would be loyal to the trio, her first true friends, for life.

* * *

Warren was in a bad mood thanks to some over-enthusiastic reporters who had managed to track him to the Paper Lantern and nearly exposed him as a super before Mrs Wu chased them off. For such a mild-looking woman, she could be fierce when her employees were harassed, and had developed a soft-spot for Warren after his mother died.

Unfortunately, by that point, the reporters had already started firing questions about if Barron Battle ever exercised his visitation rights, and if Warren suspected that his father had anything to do with his mother's death, and was he surprised when the Commander put Barron Battle away, given their rivalry during their school days.  
It was a good thing that Mrs Wu appeared then, before Warren had the chance to throw any fireballs.

In those sorts of cases, of which there had been several over the past thirteen years since Barron Battle's arrest, it was best to leave him alone for a while, and Isolde was uncomfortable around the Pyro anyway, so the four girls sat at a different table, discussing Homework, until a yelp and a clatter dragged their attention to where Stronghold had spilled his tray over Warren, and was now slowly backing away. "I- I'm sorry."

Warren did not look in a conciliatory mood, and several nearby students started evacuating the immediate area as Warren advanced on the younger boy. "You will be."

Given that Warren frequently threw fireballs, and Stronghold had yet to gain any powers, they could appreciate Stronghold's clear reluctance to get into a conflict. Warren rarely picked fights, but the reporters had tried to get a quote about what Warren thought of the Commander's role in and fame for taking Baron Battle down. "Look, let's not do this."

Evanna gulped and looked nervously at the twins, who hurriedly re-packed their bags as Warren advanced on Stronghold. Isolde had already made herself scarce. "You think you can do whatever you want just because your name's Stronghold?"

Stronghold looked almost desperate to get out of the situation without violence. Alara sent Roisin a worried look, silently asking if her powers would be able to stop a fireball if Warren lost his temper. Roisin doubted it. "Look, I'm sorry my Dad put your Dad in jail."

Someone needed to sit Will Stronghold down and force-feed him a few clues. Evanna wondered if her transformed state would protect her if she threw herself over and tripped one of them. Getting between someone who brought up an obviously sensitive topic, in front of half the school, was not the best way to avoid being barbecued. Warren didn't seem to think so, either, as flames erupted from his hands. "Nobody talks about my father."

Those close enough to hear the _whoosh_ of flames started backing away. Stronghold's group of sidekick friends stood up, looking alarmed, which drew the attention of the rest of the cafeteria. The twins copied the motion, ready to take Warren's side if a full-fledged brawl broke out. Layla looked ready to panic, "Mr. Boy, do something!"

Layla's mother was a hero, but the girl still should have known better. Sidekicks were trained to be Hero Support. With very few exceptions, if there was trouble, you didn't outright intervene, you ran to find your hero. Now was not one of the exceptions, and Mr. Boy bolted out of the cafeteria, yelling for Principal Powers.

Unfortunately, this removed the only adult supervision, and Mr. Boy was barely out of the door when Warren threw the first fireball. Stronghold attempted to block it with a plastic food tray, only to end up with a half-melted tray, and a blackened hole in the middle.

Stronghold dodged and Roisin gave a small shriek as she dove out of the way of the second fireball, narrowly missing a follow-up that turned the already unrecognizable 'Meat-of-the-Day' into charcoal.

Stronghold ran for the fire blanket and emergency button mounted on the opposite wall, only to be sent flying when a very conspicuous hand grabbed him around the ankle, then quickly tried to retract several feet. Evanna brought her heel down hard as the arm passed her feet, resulting in a yell of pain from the other end of the room.

Warren didn't wait for Stronghold to get up, but summoned more fire, flames dancing most of the way up his arms as he created an even bigger fireball. Showing more self-preservation than he had earlier, Stronghold ducked under the nearest table, crawling as fast as possible to the other end. Warren leapt on top of the table, throwing fireballs at the sides as he tried to pin Stronghold down. Reaching the end of the table, Warren stood directly above a crouched Stronghold, who looked on the verge of outright panic. "Where are your sidekicks, sidekick?"

The Pied Piper would be quietly upset with him about his tone and phrasing, Warren knew, as would Alara, but he could apologize later. Meanwhile, he couldn't decide if said sidekicks were brave, suicidal, or both as they shoved their way over. The one who melted, Ethan, was trying to hide his obvious fear for their physical safety, the guinea-pig was as unreadable as always, and the one who sometimes glowed was making an obvious effort to sound heroic as he answered for all of them. "Right here!"

Roisin only sighed at the needless dramatics as Warren looked neither impressed nor intimidated, but powered up, creating a massive fireball. Ethan promptly melted. Under the table, Stronghold appeared to find his backbone again, pushing up on the bottom of the table, probably hoping to knock Warren off balance enough for his friends to escape impending firey doom. "Leave them alone!"

It was debatable who in the cafeteria was the most surprised than when Stronghold lifted both Warren and the table above his head. There was a slight hint of a laugh in Layla's voice as she broke the silence. "He's strong!"

Stronghold sounded almost disbelieving, as though it was too good to be true. "I'm strong?"

Roisin acidly wondered what the hell Gwen Grayson had thought she was doing, just standing around while the cafeteria got blown up. Gwen didn't seem too bothered at the twins' dual icy look. "He's Super-Strong."

Roisin winced as Stronghold threw the table away, sending Warren flying into a ceiling beam, and then falling down onto another table, cracking it in half. The rest of the cafeteria burst into cheers, while Evanna and the twins gasped and ran to check on the other participant. Roisin really hoped that Warren's inherited super-healing and mild invulnerability covered the kind of damage that would have caused.

It looked like he had, because Warren was swiftly on his feet again, though the table was a lost cause, the air around him actually shimmering with the heat he generated, flames dancing over his arms and part of his upper body as the pyrokenetic powered up.

The twins retreated to a safer distance, staying close enough to step in and back Warren up if necessary.

Stronghold raised his fists in a fighting stance and punched Warren through three walls into the teacher's lounge.

Roisin could see the shocked faces of Mr. Medulla and Coach Boomer as Warren jerked his body out of a decidedly bent pillar, stalking back into the lunch room with a deadly look on his face, brushing off pieces of rock and plaster. "You think I can't take a hit?"

The air around Warren actually started to shimmer with heat, and the students instantly started shoving each other to get clear as he started to run toward Stronghold, who fumbled, but managed to catch the fire extinguisher that Layla threw at him, trying to get it to work.

Unsure of how it would affect him, but doubting that it would be good, Evanna ran toward the combatants, shadows clearing her path. Water bottles burst from the fridges, forming a barricade around Will and Warren as Evanna flung herself forward, transforming in mid-air. It was the first time she had ever used her powers to take the offensive, and she hit Stronghold with enough of an impact to make him drop the fire extinguisher, but accidentally knocked Warren off balance enough to put out his flames when she dropped to the ground.

On the other hand, that wasn't an entirely a bad thing, appearance-wise, since it left a de-powered Warren facing a Will Stronghold who had just re-hefted the fire extinguisher just as Principal Powers walked in. A gentle tap from Warren's heel saw Evanna rolling back toward the twins, who stepped in front of her as she changed back, hiding her involvement as Principal Powers fixed both youths with a Look, turning on her heel with the obvious expectation that they follow her.

The fun over, most of the crowd dispersed toward the last class of the day. Roisin smiled at Evanna before hurrying off, her next class on the opposite end of the school. Alara draped an arm over Evanna's shoulder. "That was really brave of you. Do you want to come over after school? Mom doesn't bite, I promise."

It was also the first time anyone had asked Evanna over to their house, even just to study. She found herself smiling broadly. "I'd love to."

* * *

Evanna wasn't entirely sure what she had expected the Pied Piper to be like, but she was almost certain it hadn't been this.

With her reputation of leaving her Hero in the lurch and making life difficult for Supers, Evanna supposed that she had expected something along the lines of a stern, unpleasant woman, or something like that. The woman who greeted her children with a smile and a hug, reminding them not to leave their bags on the stairs, before she disappeared into her study as a horde of squirells appeared bearing drinks and nuts, clearing off part of the bench, before vanishing out the window again.

Evanna blinked in surprise. She knew that the Pied Piper could communicate with rodents, but she hadn't thought of that as meaning anything beyond rats or mice. Roisin grinned at her expression as she put the nuts on the windowsill, cutting up some fruit instead. "Mom's showing off, but it makes a nice party trick. Normally she'd stick around, but the Giant Robot that Jetstream and the Commander fought at the beginning of the year took out half of her office building, and she needs to come up with a prosecution argument where there is no chance of the defense trying to get her thrown out on the technicality of not being impartial."

Warren chose that moment to arrive, having driven himself home after detention. "Knowing Aunt Patricia, she'll manage to get them for Slander on top of Damaging Public Property and Destruction of Private Property, just for the suggestion." He held out a hand to Evanna, "Thanks for what you did in the cafeteria. I appreciate it."

Evanna smiled at him, accepting the hand. It was such a pity that she was 95% certain that he would eventually end up with one of the Twins, if he dated any one of them. "You're welcome." She shrugged a little, "It's the first time I've been able to use my powers to actually help anyone. It's kind of a nice feeling."

The Pied Piper re-appeared from her study, getting herself a large glass of ice water. "Don't under-estimate yourself. A bit of experimentation and imagination, and you'd be surprised what you can do with your powers."

 

 

 

 


	6. Heroes and Sidekicks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Hero Class gets a new addition, and no-one is happy about it

The twins had thought that using your powers to beat someone up five seconds after you gained them would, by rights, _stop_ a person from getting into the Hero Class. Of course, no one had beaten them up with powers, yet, but it was just common sense!

Evanna, years of bullying having stripped away most of her idealism, had a slightly more realistic view of things. No Hero wanted to get on the Pied Piper's bad side any more than they could avoid, and warned their offspring, and normal children learned early on that if the Twins didn't _start_ fights, they certainly finished them. Evanna had not been so lucky in her parentage of pre-Sky High training.

Warren was still seething at the very mention of the name Stronghold, and was in no mood to listen to reason. Not that any of the three girls were inclined to give it.

None of that, however, changed the fact that Will had taken less than a day to be moved from Sidekick to Hero, as Evanna had predicted on the way to school.

The Sidekick Class as a whole were understandably feeling very pleased with themselves the next morning. That four Sidekicks had stood up to Warren Peace while a bunch of Heroes had run screaming was a point of pride, and even a few of the more sensible Heroes were treating them with a bit more respect. Will seemed none the worse for wear after the fight and resulting detention, and was grinning like a maniac as he chatted with Layla.

Seated next to Evanna in the back row, Alara rolled her eyes, pulling out her homework. Under the pretence of comparing assignments, Evanna leaned over to whisper, "Do you think they'll realize that it won't change a thing about how Sidekicks are treated? Most of the Hero kids won't like being reminded that _they_ were the ones who ran around like headless chickens."

Alara smirked at the mental image. "I doubt it. At least, they won't realize it until the next time a Hero tries to shove them into a locker."

Evanna giggled, and they had just started to compare assignments for real when Zach, Ethan and Magenta arrived. Zach immediately bounced over, giving Will a high-five. "Dude! You made Sidekick History!"

Ethan was, if possible, even more enthusiastic, although that might have something to do with the fact that he now had non-laughable back-up for whenever someone tried to dunk his head in the toilet. "Yeah! From now on, people mess with us at their own peril."

Evanna rolled her eyes, having shared Alara's view on the wisdom of standing up to a pyrokenetic with anger issues, and lacking optimism on the possibility of one Super-Strong Sidekick being an effective deterrent against _all_ of the school bullies. Roisin could toss most of them around like juggling balls, but even she couldn't be everywhere at once. As such, Alara could only agree when Evanna muttered something about 'suicidal morons'.

Layla's comment on the matter was not so glory-and-violence inclined, but no less encouraging. "You're breaking down barriers, Will. You're proving that we're not Heroes and Sidekicks, we're just people."

Ethan cut in again. " _Super_ -people!"

The self-congratulation session was abruptly cut short by Mr. Boy's appearance, and the notification that Will was being transferred to the Hero Class. Alara supposed that she should not be surprised, as no one would expect the only son of the legendary Commander and Jetstream to stay in Hero Support, now that it turned out that he possessed Super-Strength, and was not, in fact, a literally powerless Sidekick. She pulled out a dollar and handed it to a smug-looking Evanna.

Far from bursting into cheers, like most of the class had expected him to do, Will actually looked upset, speaking in a strangely vulnerable, almost lost, tone. "What about them?"

'Them' was the rest of his group, most of whom were optimistic and encouraging about the whole thing, claiming that they would still see each other at lunch and on the bus. Magenta was the exception, predicting that Will would start to adopt a different attitude in order to fit in with his new, Hero, classmates. Alara considered throwing something at the shape-shifter, in defence of her twin through such generalizations, but decided that it wouldn't be worth it, especially when Mr Boy was standing right there. Maybe Will would have enough of his maternal family to prove Magenta wrong.

* * *

Roisin and Isolde looked up from putting together a ray-gun when there was a blast of cold air two seats in front of them. They didn't stay distracted for long, as Melissa Fernandez (actually a Sophomore who had failed last year's Mad Science) 'froze' Ben Hellman at least twice a week.

Roisin honestly felt sorry for the Cryokinetic. Teenage boys at the height of puberty had enough trouble keeping their hands to themselves as it was. When said boy had six arms to keep track of, it had to be much worse, so having four of them frozen to his sides was a regular occurrence, no matter how much it annoyed Mr. Medulla.

With so many of her extended family skilled in mechanics or technology, it was impossible to not pick up on some of the basics, but while Roisin knew her way around parts and designs, actually putting them together was another matter entirely.

That was where Isolde came in. She loved puzzles and models of any kind, and could put things together easily, but when it came to actually designing or writing about things, which made up a significant portion of their grade, she was about as much use as a Pyro in the Himalayas.

They were slowly but steadily working their way through the beginnings of the project of the week, (Mr. Medulla liked to see what they already knew before lecturing them on the topic) and Mr. Medulla decided that now was a good enough time to begin his lecture. "Rays! From the silliness of the Shrink-Ray, to the devastation of the Death-Ray, these are the very foundations of Mad Science."

The lecture was interrupted by a knock at the door, and everyone looked up to see a hesitant Will Stronghold. Mr. Medulla did not look surprised, but merely annoyed as he turned to look at Will. "Yes? They told me you were coming."

Isolde looked at Roisin, raising an eyebrow. Roisin shrugged in response, although in hindsight, they really should have expected it. Powerless, Will was condemned to being a sidekick, no matter who his parents were, but once he gained his powers, Super-Strength was a one-way ticket to the Hero side of things.

Even if Roisin thought that Stronghold would do best to stay as far away from her and Warren as possible.

The two girls shared a sympathetic glance when Mr. Medulla was forced, through lack of available lab partners, to pair him up with Gwen Grayson.

T. A., Student Body President, and the girl of many students' dreams she may have been, but all Technopaths gravitated to the verge of outright snobbery as far as most of the Mad Science curriculum was concerned. Even if they didn't outright brag (a direct path to bales of extra homework and a lecture on ethics if you were caught), the air of smug superiority was just as bad.

Sure enough, Mr. Medulla had barely started walking around before Gwen was watching Stronghold with barely-hidden condensation, though she managed to keep it polite. Isolde muttered an empathic prayer for luck and went back to putting the pieces together while Roisin handled the written part, both keeping an amused ear on Mr. Medulla's commentary. "Dreadful Technique! You've confused Rays with Beams!"

Isolde winced. The main difference could be either that Beams were much larger, and could consist of several parallel rays together, while a Ray was weaker, and often one of many, like a ray of sunshine. Either way, confusing the two, especially in such a confined area, was unlikely to have any kind of good consequence.

Mr. Medulla obviously agreed with that sentiment, although Melissa didn't look quite so upset at her partner's chagrined expression. " **D**! Minus! I'd give you an **F** , but that would only mean having to see you in summer school."

Roisin smiled as Mr. Medulla passed their station with a calm nod. With his gift for scathing remarks, it was easy to see why Mr. Medulla had been given a choice between teaching English and Mad Science, although his incredible mind had drawn him toward the latter. Isolde rolled her eyes again as she saw Gwen take advantage of the teacher's distraction to pass a hand over the disassembled parts, forming a perfect Freeze Ray Gun, would-be-casually making reference to her Technopathic gifts.

To his credit, Will admitted to having had nothing to do with the construction of the ray gun when Mr. Medulla stopped at their station, then aimed the gun at Ben Hellman, obviously expecting it to be a de-frost or heat ray, only to have him completely frozen. "Miss Grayson, in the future please allow the students to succeed, _or fail_ , on their own."

Roisin could admit that she was not immune to the occasional bout of hubris, so it was nice to have a Third- or more-Generation Hero who could admit to their own failings. "Wow, all I can do is punch stuff."

Of course, this was practically an invitation for Mr. Medulla's biting commentary. "Yet, he'll be the one on cereal boxes. Show me the justice in that."

He continued making rounds, pausing as Roisin sniggered loudly. "Is something amusing, Miss Rose?"

Roisin froze, never fond of the spotlight, wishing yet again that her mother had picked a different name. "Did you see the last cereal box cartoon of the Commander? The Superhero Council managed to get it retracted, and they've spent the past four months trying to make Mom hand over the originals. So far they've failed."

That earned a rare smile. Despite their popularity among most, the Strongholds had bought more than a bit into their own legend, to the annoyance of Heroes who _didn't_ rely on brute force to solve problems. The teacher turned away without further comment, spotting Melissa calmly ignoring her partner's plight. "Miss Fernandez, kindly thaw out Mr. Hellman."

Melissa could both freeze and unfreeze people, and shot a sulky look at Mr. Medulla's back as she mostly unfroze Ben, leaving four of his arms pinned to his side. Roisin and Isolde muffled giggles as they turned back to their own project. "So, the difference between a heat-cell and a cold-cell is recognizable by…"

* * *

Evanna's parents had blown a fuse at the discovery that she had formed a friendship with Warren and the Twins, even after Evanna had pointed out the number of times they had stepped in to stop her being bullied. While they had acknowledged the point, they still didn't want her going over to the Pied Piper's house after school.

That especially sucked, because the Pied Piper had allowed Evanna to use the obstacle course that she had set up as soon as Alara got her powers, building up agility, speed, and the basics of hand-to-hand fighting, but Evanna had put that argument away for later, and the quartet had solved the problem by going to study in Warren's apartment.

She didn't expect her parents to be any happier about that, when they eventually found out, but then she could present her argument as a choice between studying at the twins, or her parents' restrictions being the reason she spent the next four years friendless and bullied, as cliques had already formed by now, going inactive the second she graduated.

Evanna knew that the twins wouldn't ditch her just because Evanna's parents didn't like them, but her parents didn't.

None of the girls were really sure how to bring up the topic of the day, but Warren ended up doing it for them. "There's a rumour going around that Stronghold got transferred into the Hero track. True or Made Up?"

Roisin sighed. "True, I'm afraid. Might over right, again, I suppose."

Alara and Warren huffed in agreement, and Evanna had another opinion. "It would have to be strange, being transferred to a class who haven't really bothered to hide their scorn, just when he was finally becoming comfortable with his status as a sidekick. I mean, getting dragged away from your friends into a group that will try to turn them into former-friends if he wants to fit in."

Alara nodded. "Trouble waiting to happen, I think."

Warren tilted his head in agreement. "Catastrophe, you mean. I talked to Dad and Aunt Patricia, and do you know how many Sidekicks turned into Minions or SuperVillains because their Hero friends stopped hanging out with them and started treating them as inferior?"

Roisin agreed, having recently done a project on the subject. "The Superhero Council stopped keeping track of the exact number years ago, but far too many. It's the same story with a lot of Rogue Heroes, who were ostracized because they wouldn't give up their friends, and wound up going to extremes to change the system.

Alara took up the discussion again, elaborating for Evanna's benefit. "That's why Mum walked out on her Hero. He treated her like trash because of her 'limited' powers, never mind that she was the one to take out The Exterminator, who was terrified of rodents, by summoning a swarm of squirrels, turning her into a gibbering wreck, while Silverblade was busy insisting that he would have them out of there in a minute."

Evanna perked up. "Really? We have an assignment on how Sidekick powers can be used to the fullest in combat situations. I'm a bit stuck on how turning into an oversized ball is going to help anything."

Warren unlocked the front door, detouring into the kitchen for drinks, and the four of them settled down in the living room. "Well, in your transformed state, it would be easy to overlook you, and you could did really well when you blindsided Stronghold in the cafeteria."

Alara nodded. "Super-Speed villains tend to rely on just that power, rather than on gadgets and such, so if I could get hold of the water in their body, even if it only slows them down, that takes away their main defence."

Roisin took out a notebook. "Do you always change into a specific pattern, or is it based on what colours you are wearing at the time? It would make you the perfect trump card in open settings. No-one pays attention to a rubber ball that some kid forgot or dropped in the playground, until you turn back into yourself and hit them on the head."

Warren grinned. "It'd be good in enclosed areas, too, especially if it takes place in a mall and the Villain has smashed up a few shops."

Slowly, Evanna smiled. Maybe she wasn't doomed to end up as a sidekick with a useless power.

 

 

 


	7. Save The Citizen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which temporary alliances are formed and broken, people are hurt, and betrayal is experienced

Evanna might not be destined to be a useless sidekick, but that fate was looking very likely for Zack and Ethan, who were still favourite targets for Sky High's top bullies, especially since Will was spending most of his free time with Gwen.

Evanna had arrived on the latest scene about the same time as Speed and Lash, but since she had started to effectively fight back against any bullies and since Alara was with her, the two boys turned to easier targets. The two girls had debated if Zack's comment during Back-Up Knowledge class, in regards to people being defined by their parents was due cause to leave the bullies to it, but were about to step in when they heard Will's voice. Ethan did, too, because he bolted in that direction, but didn't quite make it. "Will!"

Stronghold came racing around the corner with his not-girlfriend just as Ethan was being stuffed into a locker, Zack glowing for all he was worth in the hopes of drawing attention from inside the locker. "Hey, guys, come on. Let him out, Zack too."

How they had managed to stuff such a tall boy into a locker in the first place was a mystery, but Zack looked very relieved to be out again. "You're not so tough when my boy Will is around, are you?"

The two bullies glared, ruining Zack's bravado when he automatically stepped back. "You better watch it, Stronghold, or that big mouth is going to get you in trouble!"

The fact that Will hadn't actually even said anything seemed to pass them by, despite the boy's protest. "Why don't we settle this in P.E.?"

Stronghold made another futile attempt at smoothing things over, meeting with a total lack of success. "Settle what?"

His friends were not helping at all. The chance to make Speed and Lash back down for even just a few months was too good to pass up just because their friend was unconfident in his own skill. " you're on! If Will beats you in Save the Citizen, you have to lay off the Sidekicks for the rest of the year."

Zack's contribution was not so helpful. "And if he loses, you can dunk Ethan's head in the toilet every day until graduation!"

Alara and Evanna exchanged a look, and practically skipped off to find Warren and Roisin. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

Speed and Lash had a reputation for being undefeated at Save the Citizen, but it actually wasn't nearly as impressive as it sounded, if you looked at the facts.

First of all, they tended to pick opponants who were weaker than them, or stronger students who worked badly together. Second, they always played as Villains, who only had to keep the Heroes from saving the Citizen to score a default win. Third, they had exactly one tactic, which they never varied from.

Unfortunately, Evanna, Warren and the twins appeared to be the only ones who had connected the dots so far, and were busy explaining it to Isolde, which meant that everyone who faced them in Save the Citizen got creamed in three minutes or less. Warren had been almost cheerful at the almost certainty that Stronghold was going to get a dose of the same humiliation he had, but less so at the equal certainty that Speed and Lash were about to have free reign over at least one unfortunate sidekick.

They stopped discussing strategy when Amy Ramirez, a Weather-Witch Hero in Roisin's class, and Michael Hamilton, a Healer sidekick in Warren's year, collided forcefully with a dumpster as the countdown began. They managed to pick themselves up just in time to watch glumly as the citizen dummy dropped into the rotating blades.

Coach Boomer didn't need superpower or a megaphone to be heard in every corner of the gym. "Ramirez! Hamilton! Your citizen has just been mulched because you failed to defeat your villains!"

The two 'Heroes' started stripping off the protective padding as the winners chest-bumped and Coach Boomer raised his clipboard. "All right, next round. Speed, Lash, you want to be Heroes or Villains?"

The two grinned as if it was a pointless question, which it sort of was. "Villains."

Even Coach Boomer knew that. "Ooh, there's a surprise. All right, who do you want to beat next?"

Lash grinned, going for maximum intimidation. Roisin leaned over to her sister, "Who else do you think they'll pick? Super strength doesn't really clash with anything, and there aren't many in the lower spectrum who don't get along with Stronghold."

Alara shrugged. "It's rare for them to pick someone based on personality clash, but Warren isn't the only person who is less than fond of the Commander."

Evanna nudged her to pay attention as Lash finally stopped being dramatic. "We'll take Little Stronghold... And we pick Peace."

OK, it was a fair bet that no-one had been expecting that, even if it did make a certain strategic sense. Will and Warren had made their animosity very clear, and it was unlikely that anyone would expect them to be able to work together.

That much was obvious by the way nearly all of the other students leaned away from Warren as he stood up.

Those who heard him as he stalked to the kit area would have assumed that he was muttering darkly... Until he raised his voice just enough for those closest - mostly sidekicks - to hear. "If there wasn't a bet about those two laying off the Sidekicks riding on this..."

Maybe there was a little much of his father in him, or perhaps it was his lawyer not-Aunt's influence. If the other students thought that he was willing to work with his nemesis to get Speed and Lash to back off, it might do some good toward his own reputation, even if they did credit Stronghold for the idea.

Of course, since Stronghold couldn't hide his emotion to save a life, someone might actually confront him on it, and denials that Warren had been in on it might even result in enough bad opinion to make the idiot think before he opened his mouth.

... And that was definitely Roisin's taste for convoluted plots making an appearance. Oh well. He could tolerate the Commander's spawn long enough to win this.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Warren had been chosen as the second Hero, because Stronghold by himself would have been creamed. He wasn't even listening to Coach Boomer's standard instructions, but waving at Gwen. Warren sent him the darkest look he could manage, which was not even close to his usual standard with the warmth of fire racing through his body, waiting to be unleashed. "Hey! Get your head in the game!"

Boomer looked approving. "You have three minutes to immobilize your opponents and save the citizen. Ready, set, BATTLE!"

If Warren had been paired with any of his friends, it would have been easy, since all of them knew better than to stand between him and a target. Stronghold did not, which meant that Warren could only brace himself for the opening move of Lash using one arm as a spring rope, giving Speed enough momentum to act as a human pinball and knock down his opponents.

It was a little insulting to be seen as less of a threat than someone who had come into his powers barely two weeks ago, but if Speed wanted to focus on keeping Will down, that freed Warren up to deal with Lash.

Lash, who should be making his predictable second move of wrapping his extended arms around one or both Heroes any second now... "Ha! What now, Peace?"

Warren brought his fire to the surface, hot enough to scald, but not to seriously burn. Too bad of an injury would see the match cancelled in a draw or Hero forfeit as Lash went to the Nurse, which would defeat the whole purpose.

Lash retracted his arms with a yelp, waving up at Boomer, who hadn't even twitched toward his whistle. "Hey, Coach, that's a foul! Call something on that!"

The coach didn't call fouls for less than a serious injury, and was actually smirking. He had often been paired with Baron Battle during their own school days, and while having just started teaching and a young daughter to protect had prevented him from standing up for Firestar, he was probably enjoying the novelty of Speed and Lash actually having trouble, for once.

Lash stretched himself tall, but was quick enough to sway to one side when Warren threw a fireball, hitting Coach Boomer's clipboard by mistake, prompting an irritated "Watch it, Hothead!"

Warren spared a moment to check on the coach as he patted out a smal fire on his shoulder, but Boomer had worked at Sky High long enough for all of his clothing and equipment to be flame-, freeze- and pretty much everything-else-proof.

Baron Battle had seen the Commander's favourite move enough times to recognise the warning signs, and had made sure his son did, too. That was all that allowed Warren to pull off a perfectly timed jump to avoid being knocked off his feet when the floor rippled, as Stronghold certainly hadn't thought to warn him.

Warren allowed himself a faint smirk as Stronghold earned a hint of approval by using Lash's own powers to tie him in knots around a lamp-post, but lost it again when he just stood admiring his work while Warren focused on Speed, who was regaining his feet after colliding with a bench head-first.

Warren powered up again, sending his mostly-useless partner a glare. "Hey! Save the damn citizen!"

He flared up again, as Speed looked to be aiming for another collision to knock Warren down, but the bigger half of the bullying duo changed course at the last moment, running around Warren in a tight circle. Warren felt a surge of alarm as the flames surrounding him flickered and started to go out.

That was almost impossible to do while the Pyro controlling the flames was still conscious, unless there was an external factor like a fire extinguisher or lack of oxygen. That prompted another surge of worry. Whatever Speed intended, Warren didn't think that the other tough had the control to stop at just putting out the flames.

Lack of air was making him dizzy when Speed was suddenly halted, running in midair. Falling to one knee, Warren only hoped that Stronghold wasn't going to make a big deal about saving him as the younger boy suddenly released Speed, who shot toward the lamp post that Lash was tied abound, sending both of them into the plexiglass wall.

Warren inhaled deeply, starting to stand up as the countdown began, mind racing with half-thought plans to save the citizen, but it looked like Stronghold had remembered a few of his mother's moves, too, because Warren felt himself being lifted by the belt and shoulder-pad, and hurled toward the citizen dummy.

Passing closer to the revolving blades than he particularly wanted, Warren grabbed the citizen and hit the ground in a roll, lifting the 'citizen' above his head to prove that they were 'alive' and intact, just as the bell sounded. He wasn't sure that he had ever heard Coach Boomer sound so thrilled at a win. "She's alive! Heroes win!"

Stronghold extended a hand to help him up, but Warren ignored it. Nurse Spex was waiting in the sidelines, and if he walked out of the ring any way but under his own power, she would fuss even worse than she was already priming up for.

* * *

Roisin had been hidden in the toilet since not long after Save the Citizen had ended, crying and resisting all efforts to coax her back out. When Warren got back from the Nurse – checking that the lack of oxygen wouldn't have any lasting ill-effects - and finally scared away any witnesses and went in after her, he nearly ran straight back out when he found out why she was in there.

Roisin had been having a pretty fair time at Sky High, as Heroes were less likely to bully their own, and a few of her classmates had even gone from 'acquaintance classmates' to 'casual friends'… which made it all the more devastating when Roisin had caught them comparing notes with the Senior triplet children of Starshaker, the head of the Superhero Council.

Apparently, Warren being able to co-operate with Will for three minutes so that they could win a game to defend the victimised sidekicks was being analysed, opinions now wavering toward the possibility that lack of parental influence might mean that he turn evil.

Normally, Roisin would have taken that as a positive thing, and been pleased... had the conversation not turned to if there were any indications that Roisin was following in her mother's Supervillain footsteps, and if they needed to remove a potentially-'redeemable' Warren from the twins' corrupting company.

She had made herself known to the backstabbing group by shadow-lifting a trashcan above their heads and upending it when Isolde casually waved off the suggestion that the twins might not be evil, or that she might care what Roisin or Alara thought. "They're going to be Villains anyway, so why would I care what they think? Stupid Villains, too, if they actually think that anyone would want to be their friend."

Warren had every intention of going straight back out and aiming a very large fireball at all six of those responsible, and damn the consequences, but in a rare bout of sensitivity that he liked to pretend didn't exist, he just melted the lock on the door closed and hugged his friend. Roisin had put up a strong front against prejudice for most of her life, pretending that the lack of trust didn't affect her, but the betrayal and deception were new, and far more hurtful.

Principal Powers would go easy on them for skipping class when Warren explained the situation, though the back-stabbers wouldn't get off so lightly. A shadow-construct would let Alara and Evanna know what was happening so they didn't worry. Nurse Spex would give them an early leave pass – Firestar and the Pied Piper had been favourites of hers while she was a student – and Roisin had always liked the motorcycle.

* * *

With Alara over at Evanna's house after school (her parents had relented a little, but only allowed one of her friends over at a time) and the twins' parents away a conference, Roisin didn't want to stay home alone, but the Paper Lantern was short-staffed and couldn't cover for Warren's absence, so the Pyro brought her to work with him.

Mrs Wu was formidable, but also very compassionate, so when Warren quietly explained what had happened, her lips had pressed into a thin line before she settled Roisin in a corner booth with tea, duck in lemon sauce, and her newest grandchild, who needed watching and had never yet failed at cheering people up.

It worked, after a fashion, in the sense that Roisin ended up not only with the grand-child, but also with Mrs Wu's nephew and the delivery-boy's younger sister, who were both struggling with homework. Playing impromptu tutor not only provided a distraction, but also put Roisin in a much better frame of mind.

She loved learning, and loved explaining what she knew even more, to the extent that her Middle School guidance councillor had recommended teaching as a future career. If she didn't know that she would be shoehorned into a career that would allow her to dash off at a moment's notice, and the newfound knowledge that the Superhero Council would never allow Sky High to employ her Roisin would have looked forward to it.

The judgemental back-stabbers at Sky High might not think much of her, but people who hadn't fallen afoul of her mother thought that the Pied Piper was a good person, and when High School was over, Civilian opinions counted for a lot. It was something that Warren and the twins had already planned to make use of after graduation.

Speaking of Warren, the dinner rush had died down, so Roisin glanced around and did a double-take when she saw him talking to Layla, who was sitting alone and looking miserable. Raising an eyebrow, she turned back to the Middle-schoolers, who were struggling with timelines. "OK, so what is the main problem here."

Mrs Wu's nephew pointed at the list of dates. "Numbers go forward in AD, but when I did the same in BC, my teacher marked it as incorrect."

Roisin nodded thoughtfully. "All right, do you know what BC and AD stand for?"

The delivery-boy's sister nodded. Before Christ and Anno Domini, which doesn't really make sense."

Roisin smiled. "It's Latin for Year of The Lord. Year 1 AD was supposedly the birth of Christ. Now, the thing to remember is that a timeline is positive and negative numbers. AD is like 'add', where numbers increase as you go forward. BC can stand for 'backwards chronologically' where numbers increase as they go backwards. Does that make sense?"

Mrs Wu's nephew made a careful note, "so 40 BC is actually after 200 BC. Is that right?"

Warren had approached while Roisin was explaining. "Perfect. I hate to interrupt, but the Lady Boss says I should be getting you home."

* * *

Away from the two Heroes, the less-threatening twin had managed to convince Evanna's parents to allow her a sleepover after 'discovering' that she had left several homework-necessary books at the Rose house. That meant that they were home when Roisin and Warren returned and explained what had happened at school to put Roisin in such a state.

After much ranting from Alara and outraged indignation from Evanna, the four settled down a little, curled up in one tangled group. Absently stroking her twin's hair as she leaned against Warren, his arm stretched over the couch cushions behind her shoulders, Roisin's voice was soft and almost vulnerable. "Do you ever think about self-fulfilling prophecies?"

On Warren's other side, Evanna lifted her head. "You mean when trying to avoid some event sets in motion the things that will make it happen?"

Roisin nodded and the tall pyro moved his arm from the couch to wrap around her waist, holding her a little tighter than before, his tone matching hers. "All the time."

 

 

 

 


	8. Down The Rabbit Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the world has obviously been turned on its head

After an evening of feeling upset and crying on her _real_ friends _'_ shoulders Roisin decided that she had shed enough tears over those who weren't worth it, and walked into Sky High with a new determination in her stride. They didn't have to prove anything to anyone! The people who mattered knew who she was and accepted that, and the others she only had to deal with for another three years before they got a quick taste of how real life worked.

Walking into Homeroom, she smiled at Isolde as she took a seat next to Melissa, who she had had no problems with thus far. Let Isolde make of that what she would. Roisin hoped for some severe apprehension and mind games.

It was an unintentional, but welcome bonus when Ben walked in less than a minute later, and had to sit next to Roisin's former friend.

Melissa looked intensely relieved at an entire lesson without fending off the grabby boy, but also a little concerned at whatever had prompted Roisin's mood. "Did you two have a fight or something? I mean, you don't have to tell me, but you missed your afternoon classes yesterday, then you weren't on the bus, and Nurse Spex was looking worried."

Telling Melissa what had happened would leave Roisin and Alara open to scrutiny, but it would also tell how the other girl stood in regards to parental-based judging. "Turns out that Isolde had been pretending to be my friend so that she could report on how much I do or don't take after my mother. I was in the bathroom until Warren got an early-leave pass off Nurse Spex. She'd already been worried about how lack of oxygen and being forcibly powered-down might have effected him, so she let us both out early."

Melissa looked horrified. "That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard! _Everyone_ with functioning brain cells knows that the Pied Piper was _nothing_ compared to most Villains, and that not many lawyers are willing to work Super-related cases, so she's only doing her job! And besides, you and your twin aren't her."

Roisin gave a sad smile. "That makes you smarter than most of the Super population, then. Most of them just get annoyed at the inconvenience, and write us off as evil."

Marissa lowered her voice. "My dad's an Empath, and Mom is a court scribe for the Superhero council. Some of the cases your Mom worked on... Well, at least getting sued for damages made some heroes a bit more careful about collateral damage. And I know that the only time you're actually malicious is when you're trying to make a bully lay off people!"

Her voice had started to rise, making Isolde look over in curiosity. The deceitful flier swiftly looked down again when she was hit with dual glares from Roisin and Marissa, but was stopped from actually saying anything when Mr Medulla walked in to start the lesson.

* * *

Warren was sitting at his usual table, waiting for Evanna and the Twins and trying to ignore the everyday high school drama with a book. It was working, until one such Drama decided to involve him in the form of the redhead from last night suddenly sitting down across from him. "Hi, Warren!"

The Pyro barely managed not to blink in confusion. He might not be the best with social cues, but he was pretty sure that he hadn't done anything to her that would invite or imply a come-on. "Did I do or say anything last night to make you think this was ok?"

She let out a nervous laugh, and it was probably a bad sign that Warren was already gritting his teeth. "Funny. Seriously, though, you're never going to believe what happened. I was just about to ask Will to Homecoming when - wouldn't you know it - I told him I was going with you, instead!"

Warren stared at her, suddenly angry. He hadn't pegged Layla as one of Gwen's type, to casually use someone else for their own purpose, whether that person agreed or not, but then, few people had Penny or Gwen pegged as manipulative or cunning, either. "I don't remember that being the plan! Did it occur to you that I might have been planning to ask someone else?"

Evidently it had not, because her face fell, just in time for the sidekick who turned into a guinea pig to sit down. "Hey, Layla, did you do the homework?"

Warren tried very hard not to flame up, succeeding by the barest of margins. "What do you think you're doing?"

The purple girl merely gave him a bored look. That was admittedly rare. "It's called sitting."

Warren's voice was cold, in direct contrast to the heat that was trying very hard to break free. "Nobody sits here, but me and the people I choose."

She ignored him, talking to Layla about the Homework, and Warren felt his control slipping when the kid who melted sat down eagerly. "Hey, are we sitting with Warren now? I feel extremely dangerous!"

Warren felt his temperature skyrocketing, but didn't get to even open his mouth before the blond glowstick sat down, trying to act tough. "Layla, Magenta, is this guy bothering you."

The idea of impersonating his father and shooting a fireball at the lot of them had never been so tempting, and only the sight of Alara and Evanna approaching cooled him down. "Try the other way around. Please tell me your day has been better than my last five minutes, Alara!"

Evanna and Alara sat down on Layla's other side, offering sympathetic looks. "Roisin's on her way, she just got caught up explaining a confrontation to Mr Medulla."

Warren frowned. "Is everything all right? What happened?"

Alara shrugged. "Speed and Lash thought it would be easier to get her on her own, and she was proving them wrong when Mr Medulla showed up." She held up what looked like a semi-transparent, miniature black dragon. "She sent us a note and told us to go ahead."

Ethan blinked. "What is that? And how did she get it to you when Hero classes are on the other side of the school?"

Warren ignored him, smirking faintly. "She still hasn't managed to get her little shadow-messengers into any other shape, I see." Ethan looked fascinated, and Warren stifled a sigh. "It's a construct, like a living shadow. Most element-based Supers can make them, though what you can use them for is roll of the dice. Mom could use hers as sort of scouts, sending a construct around a corner or into a different room, and seeing through them."

Alara smiled, "I'm still working on it, since I work with the water inside things, and Warren is still working out the kinks in his."

Ethan leaned forward. "What kinks?"

The fact that Warren still couldn't make his look like anything but a fiery kitten. "None of your business. _Why_ are you all suddenly being friendly, anyway?"

Layla randomly burst into obviously fake laughter, glancing off to the side. "Warren, you are crazy!"

Crazy was not a word Warren liked very much, especially after the number of people who had used it in reference to his father, but managed to force his incandescent rage into an incredulous look. Roisin took care of the dirty look as she approached, dodging an attempted trip by Penny. The glowstick edged over nervously, giving her room to sit as Layla lowered her tone, "Please, I promise I'll make this as painless as possible."

Warren caught Stronghold looking back at them, looking confused and a little hurt, and it wasn't hard to connect the dots. "So you're not doing this because you like me or anything. You're doing it to get to Stronghold."

It sounded really bad when you said it like that, as Layla clearly realized. Alara tilted her head in consideration before the redhead or Warren could say anything. "Sounds like a good reason to me. We don't care what people think about us going solo, right girls?"

Roisin looked like she might object, but reached over Ethan to pat Warren on the arm. "Save us a dance each, and we'll even back you up if anyone asks."

Warren grinned. "Then I'm in," he closed his book and picked up his bag. "But I am not renting a tux, and you two – " he turned to the twins, " – get to explain it to Aunt Patricia."

* * *

Warren had thought that it would be fun to drive Stronghold crazy by taking the Hippie to Homecoming, but he hadn't taken into account how the rest of the population might act or think.

As it turned out, he didn't need to worry about the Pied Piper, as she listened to the explanation, exchanged glances with Mecha-Girl, and burst out laughing. Evanna, over for a study session, looked as confused as Warren felt, though he hid it behind a scowl. "Someone want to explain?"

The bell rang, and the two Hero Support ran to answer the door. From the way Evanna burst into giggles somewhere in the front hallway, Alara was willing to explain to her, at least. Roisin just gave him an enigmatic smile as she searched through her books. "You're trying to make Stronghold jealous, but that'll never work if he catches on that you're just pretending. You're going to have the green girl hanging off you whenever her crush is within sight or hearing range."

Warren hadn't considered that, and swore vividly. Roisin patted him on the shoulder and headed inside, trying to stifle her own laughter.

Warren considered the possibility of playing off Stronghold's white knight complex and telling Layla to act like he broke her heart or some sappy shit, but decided that Stronghold was probably too dense, and Layla too self-sacrificing, for the idiot to figure it out even if the hippie ran into his arms in tears.

* * *

It was worse than the twins had warned him.

Layla bounced over to whatever he was doing as soon as Gwen and Stronghold appeared, chattering away and calling him things like 'cutie'. The other Sidekicks wouldn't leave him alone, no matter what he did, and their presence often meant that, while Roisin could be unobtrusive enough, there often wasn't room at the lunch table for Alara and Evanna.

The Pied Piper, when he asked for help, had done a good job at concealing her disappointment at his not going with one of her daughters, and promised to see if she could think of a way to get Layla to tone it down.

As it turned out, her Plan was to 'accidentally' bump into Layla's mother while shopping and warn her that she was very fond of Warren, so if Layla hurt him in her bid to get Will's attention, there would be consequences. All Superheroes knew the amount of trouble and paperwork generated by the Pied Piper's idea of 'consequences', and Layla, after several hours being interrogated by her parents, had toned it down a bit, but that didn't make them leave him alone altogether.

It also meant that the Cryptographer found out, and told Warren's father.

While Baron Battle had been nice enough to wait until after Warren's visiting time was up to start laughing, and to reassure him that unless the Stronghold boy was brain-damaged, it would be over soon, he hadn't been able to restrain a smirk while telling him to at least wear a proper suit.

 

 

 


	9. Why? Just Why?

It didn't help that Will Stronghold had taken to hanging out at the Paper Lantern, probably in the hopes of catching one of the sidekicks, who were still avoiding him.

For the first few days, Warren successfully avoided him while the girls came up with increasingly absurd theories about what had happened to stop Stronghold from hanging out with Gwen and her followers, now occasionally joined by Melissa. Finally, Warren decided to just ask, carefully avoiding the double-date of Mr Medulla and Coach Boomer with a pair of twins, both of whom were practically hanging off the Mad Science professor.

Direct Confrontation would be a bad idea, so Warren picked up the barely touched plate, despite not being on shift, pretending not to recognise him. "Did you want... What are you doing here?"

Stronghold glanced up, looking depressed enough to give a straight answer. "I'm looking for Layla. Do you know where she is?"

Given that Warren had taken to avoiding the lot of them whenever he could, he didn't. "Why would I know?"

Stronghold looked briefly indignant, before lapsing back into mope-mode. "Well, you're taking her to homecoming."

And if the relationship were in any way real, he might have had a point. "Oh, yeah. Right."

The bland remark earned a brief glare. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about me ruining your night."

Oh, please don't let the idiot be planning some kind of noble stepping-aside-so-they-could-be-happy thing. Then Warren would be stuck with Stronghold's Sidekicks permanently! "And why is that?"

Stronghold shrugged. "Because I'm not going."

So all the frustration of the past two weeks was for nothing? Seriously? He might as well spill the beans. "Well that sucks. We were only going together because Layla wanted to make you jealous."

Oh, good: confusion. The angst was getting boring. "Huh?"

Warren rolled his eyes, pointedly taking Roisin's hand when she came over to see what was going on. "Dude, you're so stupid. She's totally into you."

The glumness returned. "Not after tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if Layla or any of the other guys never want to talk to me again."

Roisin glared at the younger boy. "Well, then you'd better make it right again, because I'm sick of not being able to talk to my friend without your friends hanging off him waiting for you to pull your head out of Gwen's ass!"

Stronghold looked indignant. "Well, good for you. Besides, I dumped Gwen last night."

Another reason to make up with your friends fast, because Gwen was sure to find some way to make him suffer for that. "That's likely to earn you a few points."

Warren agreed, unable to resist driving the knife a little deeper. "Though you must have been a real jerk. Because no matter what I do, I can't get them to stop talking to me."

Arm in arm, he and Roisin walked back to their table, dodging Mrs Wu's approving look (she had cornered Warren to inform him that a girl who was clearly in love with someone else was not good enough for him when Layla had first started hanging around him), and leaving Stronghold to face his mistakes.

* * *

Melissa had joined the ranks of those who didn't care who your parents were, which led to joining Evanna at the Twins' house to get ready for Homecoming.

Warren had been hoping that Stronghold would come to his senses and allow him to duck out of Homecoming altogether, and left it too late to find a suit in his size. The Pied Piper had come to his (dubious) rescue by producing a suit that had belonged to his father, a disturbingly soft look in her eyes when she saw him.

Warren gave her an alarmed look, not thinking he looked that bad. "What's wrong?"

The soft look only increased, matched by that of Mecha-Girl, who was over for the weekly Cards Night. "I know you're sick of hearing it, but you look so much like your father right now. Both of them would be so proud."

Warren resisted the urge to squirm, unused to his fierce, unyielding aunt acting so sentimental. "How much longer do you think the girls will be? Being late will defeat the purpose of this whole nightmare."

He didn't know about Melissa, but Evanna and the twins never took more than twenty minutes to get dressed on the worst of days! What could have caused them to be up there for over an hour?"

Mecha-Girl and the Pied Piper exchanged looks that clearly conveyed that he just didn't understand, but Warren was saved by a voice from the stairs. "Oh, stop complaining. We'll be fine."

Warren turned around and stared. Roisin was stunning in a flowing dark red dress with a high waist and a low neckline, her dark hair framing her face in loose waves. Alara wore the same dress, but in silver-grey, her hair pinned up in curls. Evanna had opted for a pale blue, knee-length sheath, and Melissa was the 'girliest' of them all, in a very frilly, very white strapless dress.

The Cryptographer closed his eyes, clearly dreading the idea of people actually noticing his daughters in a positive way. "Warren, try to have them back by midnight, even if you have to leave the Williams girl high and dry."

Warren didn't roll his eyes at the thought of making the girls do anything. "Of course."

The Pied Piper did not share his restraint, kissing her daughters and hugging Warren. "Try to have fun, even if the circumstances aren't ideal. And don't crash the flying car."

Well, they had each other, so it wouldn't be a total nightmare.

 

 

 

 


	10. The Biggest Night of the High School Year - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Homecoming dance has more surprises than expected...

Evanna laughed as Warren spun her around the dance floor, taking a chance to enjoy himself before Layla showed up and he had to put on an act. Alara had the opening dance, and Roisin the only slow song thus far, but that was hardly unexpected. Evanna was more than content with having someone to dance with at all.

The music ended with a brief and polite round of applause for the band, and Warren gave a small sigh as he spotted Layla walk in, dressed in a vibrant green, vaguely Grecian gown. "Duty calls. Can you give my apologies to Melissa and tell her I'll be over when Stronghold shows up? Hopefully he won't take too long."

A snicker came from where the twins were dancing nearby, totally unconcerned with what anyone thought of them. "With the Commander's love for dramatic entrances? Don't bet on it."

Warren huffed in combined resignation and amusement as he headed to the punch table, where Mr Boy, who had drawn one of the short straws as chaperone, was talking to Layla. She, at least, was not enjoying the occasion. "The guys at this school are jerks!"

He knew silently appearing behind her was cliche, but he couldn't resist. "Thanks a lot."

Oh, yes, the deer-trapped-in-headlights expression was definitely worth any amount of teasing. "I thought you weren't going to rent a tux."

Layla really needed to stop providing such perfect openings, they were just too tempting to resist. "It's my Dad's. He doesn't have much use for it in Solitary, and the Pied Piper refused to let me show up in a leather jacket."

Layla clearly didn't know how to respond to that, but plastered on a smile and picked up the first thing that came to hand. "Cheese cube?"

Warren managed to not roll his eyes, but it was a close thing. "No. If you want to keep up appearances, I promised you a dance."

He tried to sound at least a little enthusiastic, though how well he managed was anyone's guess. To her credit, Layla did a good job of hiding her disappointment that Stronghold hadn't shown up yet, and took his hand.

Fortunately, they didn't have to pretend long, as Evanna caught sight of The Commander and Jetstream waiting just outside the door, talking quietly. She signalled to Warren as Principal Powers took the stage. "Please welcome The Commander and Jetsteam!"

In the applause that followed, ranging from dutiful to enthusiastic, no-one noticed the twins, Warren and their friends rolling their eyes at the theatrics, which was probably a good thing. The Principal glanced at a piece of paper. "Good Evening. First, a quick announcement. The owner of the fusion-powered jet pack, you left your lights on."

Mr Medulla looked acutely embarrassed as he tried to make his way out, amid stifled giggling. "Excuse me. Sorry."

Principal Powers quelled the amusement with a stern look. "And now, please join me in welcoming the head of the Homecoming Committee, the girl who made all of this possible: Gwen Grayson!"

Gwen took the stage in a pink and yellow dress that the girls considered only just this side of tacky. Melissa kept her voice lower than the applause as she nudged the two sidekicks, "whoever told her that those shades go together needs to be slapped."

The applause stopped about the same time as the muffled giggles, and Gwen smiled a bit too sincerely. "Thank you, Principal Powers, and a very special thank you to our guests of honour and the recipients of our first-ever Hero of the Year award: The Commander and Jetstream!"

More applause, as Warren caught Roisin's eye and they exchanged exasperated looks. Jetstream wasn't too bad, but the Commander really didn't need his ego stroked any bigger. Gwen waited for silence again. "And to mark this occasion, we've planned a special tribute to the most powerful super-being ever to walk the halls of Sky High!"

Wait, super- _being_? When the award that they had been told about was being jointly presented to two people? And the phrasing sounded worryingly familiar, like when some of the twins' mother's less reputable friends got a few drinks in them...

* * *

Well, they had been right in that Gwen Grayson was too perfect for it to be real, and at least they could have the satisfaction of saying "We Told You So" to anyone who was still alive to listen.

Royal Pain's armor snapped onto place around her as most of the school stood in stunned silence. A minion darted forward, kicking the podium and popping it open to pull out a ray-gun. After a brief, obligatory pause for flashy lights and ominous music, the Commander stepped forward. "Royal Pain is a girl?"

Warren rolled his eyes. Despite his very sincere dislike of the man, he hoped that the Commander didn't underestimate Royal Pain based on her gender. That could get messy.

Royal pain was even less pleased than Warren, and made it obvious. "Yes, I'm a girl, you idiot! How I ever lost to a fool like you, I'll never know! Now prepare to be pacified!"

Evanna nudged Roisin. "She'll aim for the Heroes first. Get out and find a way to call back-up. We'll distract her."

It was one of the first things the Pied Piper had taught them: when out-numbered, out-matched or in a panicking crowd, call or send for back-up as early as possible. Solo heroics against an enemy whose endgame was unclear was a good way to get yourself killed.

* * *

The two Hero students slipped through the crowd and out of the gymnasium, ducking behind a row of lockers to hide as Penny, Speed and Lash walked past, looking far too pleased with themselves to be anything less than directly involved with Royal Pain's plot.

They broke into a run as soon as they were clear of any possible observers or security cameras (Alara had searched those out as soon as power placement was over - hopefully Royal Pain didn't have any extra minions in the security room.)

Their destination was the Technology Lab, and Roisin wove a net of shadows as an extra precaution, hiding them from view as Melissa swiftly picked the lock.

The computers had an program built in so that destruction or serious damage sent an alert straight to the cryptographer. Since it was the middle of Homecoming and everyone was supposed to be in the gym, an alert of computer destruction with extreme prejudice should bring the Cryptographer and whatever reinforcements he had on speed dial in very short order.

Shadows solidified and hit the nearest computer at high speed, while a burst of ice put out any hint of fire. An Alarm flashed silently, signalling that the alert had been sent, and that it had been caused by someone deliberately using their powers.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long for the backup to arrive.

 

 

 

 


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battle of the Homecoming Dance, Part One

The first thing to do was set up something to delay any escape by Gwendoline and her minion.

A thin layer of black ice over the steps, and a hanging snare at the base of the steps, using some invisible rope from the mad science lab, would do for that. Then, it was back inside to try and get the others to safety, while avoiding Gwen, Speed, Lash and Penny.

* * *

There were half a dozen babies on the floor, crawling around in vastly oversized clothes, and Royal Pain's minion was cackling and spouting off lame one-liners. Mr Medulla walked back in just in time to step into a shot meant for Principal Powers. "What did I miss? Argh!"

Principal Powers obviously realised that she was the next target, and that there was no way to dodge without running over someone, and no way of telling what would happen if she got Pacified while in her comet form. "Boomer, get the kids out of here!"

Coach Boomer spotted first the barred doors, then Warren, standing in front of Alara and Evanna with ignited fists, and waiting for a clear shot. Stronghold's sidekicks were fighting their way toward him, and the coach took a combative stance. "Hothead, find an exit! Get as many people out as you can, I'll slow her dow..."

Warren didn't bother to watch as Gwen's minion hit the coach, but glanced at the girls behind him. "Either of you two know the nearest exit?"

That was another thing that the Pied Piper insisted every low-powered super should know: at least two exits from any room they spent more than a minute in. Evanna pointed off to the side, where there was a grate just big enough for average-to-small-sized teenagers to crawl through. Warren blew it open with a fireball, as Alara threw a barrage of water bottles at Royal Pain and the minion to distract them.

As the largest, and with the most offensive power, Warren led the way in, followed by his friends, and then Stronghold's Sidekicks, trying to match the chute to his mental map of the school. It wasn't helped by the comments from behind him. "Where are we?"

"Hey, Warren, how about a light?"

Evanna twisted as much as she could to stare incredulously. "We are in a metal pipe."

Alara chipped in, "Metal is a heat conductor."

Warren elaborated for those who obviously didn't get it. "Only if you want to get barbecued."

Second from the back, Zach started to glow green. "If you ladies will excuse me..."

Said ladies pressed themselves as tightly to the side as possible, glad that he was very much on the thin side. Magenta couldn't let it go without comment. "Then all the reindeer loved him..."

Alara growled under her breath as Ethan chipped in, "Way to glow, Zach!"

Evanna sighed, "Can we stop with the lame puns, please? I can _feel_ my braincells committing suicide."

* * *

Melissa and Roisin were quietly making their way down a corridor when Will Stronghold almost barrelled into them, not bothering with stealth. The two girls exchanged exasperated looks. Heroes with strength-based powers never seemed to have any plan beyond 'Charge-in-and-hope-for-the-best'. "Do you _want_ Gwen and her buddies to hear us half-way across the school?"

Stronghold skidded to a stop. "Good, you guys got out. Do you know what's happened to everyone else?"

Melissa shook her head as they started to run again, turning a corner and skidding to a halt when a ventilation shaft started glowing with a light that wasn't normally seen outside the Mad Science lab. Stronghold yanked the cover off, and Zach poked his head out. "'Sup, kid?"

The others piled out, Warren and Alara pulling Roisin into a brief hug as Stronghold practically bounced in place with agitation. "Guys, you're never going to believe this. Gwen – "

Layla cut him off, " – is Royal Pain's daughter."

Stronghold deflated slightly. "Right, and she – "

Warren let go of the twins and broke in, " – stole the Pacifier."

Roisin gripped his hand, "And recruited some backup. Give me a stupid villain any day."

Will nodded, "Yeah, and – "

Zach and Magenta moved in closer, " – and she turned everyone at Homecoming into babies, including your parents, dude."

Will blanched dramatically. "OK, that I didn't know."

Rare sarcasm coloured Layla's tone. "I think that this is more than even the great Will Stronghold can handle."

A blind person probably wouldn't have missed the way Stronghold winced, looking around at the small group. "She's right. It's going to take all of us."

Magenta sounded far less confident than usual, though the note that suggested amazement that the person she was addressing could walk and breathe at the same time was still very much present. "All of who? You and Warren? Ice and Shadows over there? The rest of us are only sidekicks."

Alara scowled at her. "Speak for yourself, hamster-girl."

Stronghold intervened before a fight could break out. "Having powers doesn't make you a Hero. Sometimes it just makes you a jerk. Makes me a jerk. I guess what I'm trying to say is – "

Layla looked like all her dreams were coming true at once as she stopped him from falling over himself any further. "We get it: you've been a jerk."

Warren stared at the two of them incredulously. The others collectively rolled their eyes as the Commander's son finally did something about the _bleeding obvious_. "Layla, in case my Homecoming date ends up killing me tonight, I just want you to know…"

Melissa and Evanna exchanged a long glance as the twins merely looked bored, all expecting a dramatic speech. Instead, Will just pulled Layla close and kissed her. Warren was about to break into sarcastic applause when Penny's voice interrupted them. "Isn't that sweet? I _hate_ sweet!"

She stood at the end of the hall, flanked by Lash and Speed. Will sighed. "You guys are a part of this too? Why am I not surprised."

Warren pulled off his jacket to free up his arms, moving into a flanking position as the others spread out across the hall. "Go take care of Gwen. Roisin, stay with him. We'll handle these clowns."

Will didn't waste time with doors or walls, but simply barged right through them, Roisin close on his heels. Zach ushered Alara and Magenta back into the ventilation shaft. Warren ran to a junction that would give him a better chance against Speed, followed by Melissa. Penny created several clones and chased after Layla, while Lash grabbed Ethan and Evanna.

Evanna changed into a ball and was kicked down the hall, bouncing off a locker and zig-zagging down toward the cafeteria, where the last of Penny's clones was disappearing through the door. Changing back and rolling to her feet, Evanna tackled one and put them in a choke-hold, trying to sound as threatening as possible. "All right, bitch, what's the end-game?"

* * *

They could hear Gwen's villainous monologue two corridors away, though thankfully they were spared the opening melodramatics. "…She hatched a plan so daring, so visionar- ack!"

Gwen's dramatic parade down the steps came to an abrupt end as she hit Melissa's black ice, her strut becoming a very undignified skid, complete with flailing arms. A swirl of shadows caught the Commander before he could hit the ground, moving him out of the way to safety.

Regaining her balance, Gwen's took another step and sustained a nasty bang to the head as her legs were caught in an invisible snare and she found herself hanging upside down, spinning slowly to spot an angry Will Stronghold and a smirking Rose twin. The Villainess's daughter laughed. "I'll leave you to deal with her, shall I? Try not to get distracted."

The girl, the Hero twin, if she was using shadows, but whose name Gwen had never bothered to learn, tossed off a mocking salute and used the shadows to boost catapult herself through an open window, leaving the ex-couple to face off against each other.

As attempting to talk Gwen down failed spectacularly and he was tackled through about ten walls, Will could only think that this was not going to be pretty.

* * *

Warren and Ethan high-fived as Speed went flying into a plaster fresco, before Warren ducked into the toilets to tie Lash into the most complicated knot he could think of before the bully managed to extract his head and neck from the pipes. Getting his head out would take longer without leverage, and the knot would buy them at least ten minutes.

He walked out in time to catch Roisin, who was muttering darkly about needing more practice at running in heels. She knelt next to Melissa, who Speed had picked out as the bigger threat and shoved into a row of lockers at nearly a hundred miles per hour. Melissa had managed to form a protective shell of ice around her head, stopping her from having her skull split like an egg, but it wasn't enough to stop her from being knocked unconscious.

Roisin closed her eyes and focused on sensing the shadows in Melissa's body, similar to how Melissa and Warren could sense people in the dark through body heat. There was no permanent damage, and head-wounds were tricky things, but Roisin managed to shrink the shadows that indicated bone-deep bruises. They needed everyone awake and focused if they were to hold out until re-enforcements arrived.

* * *

The clone that Evanna was choking into submission was even dumber than Penny herself; a very difficult thing to accomplish. That, or the clones were simply as useless with details as the original copy. "Destroy school, start new supervillain academy with the pacified ones."

Evanna dug her knee into the clone's spine. "Details, you insipid twit! How is she going to destroy the school?"

Breaking glass and an explosion of vines inside the cafeteria distracted them, and the clone slumped over, unconscious. Luckily, the clones that Layla had tied up were far more knowledgeable and talkative. "Don't leave us here to die!"

"Royal Pain sabotaged the anti-gravity device!"

"The whole school is going to fall out of the sky!"

"We only have ten minutes!"

Evanna and Layla exchanged panicked looks and ran to find the others.

* * *

Ron Wilson, Bus Driver, knocked Stitches flying off the bus in a Superhero physical combat move that had taken hours upon hours to perfect. Royal Pain's minion rolled to a halt at the feet of four adults, who simply trampled over him on their way into the school. Fortunately, Royal Pain had left scratch marks on the black ice, letting them avoid it, or their charge could have ended badly.

The Cryptographer and Mecha-Girl reached into the School computer system. Mecha-Girl found the controls for the cages in the Senior Mad Science lab, releasing the various rodents. Some of them had been genetically modified, but all of them listened to the Pied Piper.

The Cryptographer had read enough reports of Royal Pain's actions to recognise the effects of the Pacifier, even if the abundance of babies hadn't been enough of a clue. It was the work of a moment to find the student records and send a collective notification to the parents, informing them of what had happened and warning them to come up with a plan before they charged in.

Melissa's father, the Peacebringer, stayed behind to help unload the babies, while the other three took off toward the school and the sound of combat.

* * *

Layla and Evanna spotted the others as Melissa sat up and Speed extracted himself from the wall, joined by Lash, still un-knotting his arms and trying to look menacing while soaking wet and smelling like a sewer. Whatever they had planned failed utterly as they were knocked off their feet and borne away by a small horde of rats and other rodents.

The genetically modified rats broke away to gather around the Pied Piper and Cryptographer, both of whom were doing a far better job of looking menacing than any of the teenage wannabe villains. The Cryptographer blinked at the rest of the rodents that rushed past them. "Dear, are there lemmings in that wave?"

The Pied Piper smirked coldly. "Hanging off the edge of the school will keep them out of the way and teach them that being a schoolyard bully doesn't mean you're ready to face the big guns."

Zach, Ethan and Magenta edged away nervously as Alara and Warren grinned. The smiles faded as Layla and Evanna sprinted up. "Royal Pain is planning to sabotage the anti-gravity device. Is there a room that will have building schematics?"

The Cryptographer pulled out a tablet that expanded to the size of a small display board. He tapped a few times on the screen, focusing on what he needed to see. The building schematics might have been stored in the SuperBuildings Ltd main computer halfway across the country, but distance only added a few seconds for the semi-retired Technopath.

Layla swiftly spotted the only way that wouldn't take them at least twenty minutes, but started from the beginning. "Here's the anti-gravity room."

Magenta glanced at the various paths leading to it, calculating time and distance. "But didn't Royal Pain seal off every route?"

Ethan spotted something potentially useful. "Hey, what about this conduit?"

Zach disagreed. "No, you'd have to be the size of a rat to fit in there."

Warren, Evanna, Melissa and the twins looked at the Pied Piper, who frowned: rats, even genetically modified ones, were not always good with directions, and they didn't have time for mistakes. Everyone else looked at Magenta, whose shapeshifting form wasn't much bigger than a rat. The purple-clad girl sighed. "Oh, great."

Nevertheless, she shifted, Zach carrying her as they ran to the conduit access point. The Hero students branched off to the Gym, where loud crashes and the sound of things blowing up suggested the location of Will and Gwen.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battle of the Homecoming Dance, Part Two

Magenta sulked quietly as she scurried down the small pipe, listening to Zach call encouragement from a distance.

Yes, this was an important task, and something that only she could do, but she always felt far too vulnerable in her shifted form, which had been the subject of far too much teasing. No one teased her mother, who shape-shifted into a very large grizzly bear, but no, Magenta had to get the cute-and-cuddly rodent form.

That was partly why she had chosen the goth, tough-girl, the-world-is-beneath-me attitude that she projected to the world at large. If she could make people focus more on the 'DANGER: Handle with caution' vibe than they did on the instinctive 'awww-factor' of her shifted form, perhaps she stood a chance of being taken seriously, sidekick or not.

It was just a pity that her voice while shifted made her sound like she'd been breathing helium, and destroyed any chance of anyone taking her seriously. "This is so stupid!"

It was nice that Zach didn't think so, and kind of flattering that he liked her in both human and animal forms, even if she probably hadn't been supposed to hear the comment about her legs. "OK, go about ten feet, and there should be an opening on your right."

The echoes made it slightly harder to hear, but there was only one opening near her. Magenta turned right. "Got it."

Understanding what Ethan and Zach were saying only grew harder with distance, especially since Zach then had to raise his voice, amplifying the echos. "Find the access panel, it leads straight to the generator!"

This was going to be harder than it had originally seemed.

* * *

Layla and the other three Hero students made it to the Gym, no longer caged off, in time to see Will punch Royal Pain hard enough to knock her helmet off. Relief and inexperience or ignorance could probably be blamed for Layla's cardinal mistake. It was one of the first rules that Warren and Roisin had been taught: _'There are few things that can't wait until AFTER an opponent has been defeated. NEVER distract someone in the middle of a climatic battle.'_

The second rule was: _'If it CAN'T wait, yell something that will grab the attention of BOTH parties, and explain in as few words as possible'._

Then again, their parents had possessed a larger dose of common sense than most Supers, and Layla's mother was a currently-inactive Pacifistic Hero, whose missions had mostly involved convincing wild or genetically modified animals to stop attacking humans. Perhaps she had skipped teaching Layla that rule.

Either way, Will stopped mid-punch and looked up when Layla yelled his name, giving Royal Pain the chance to blast him off her and through a window. Melissa sighed as Layla screamed, managing to keep her voice down. "Well, our chances of victory just plummeted even faster than Stronghold is."

Fortunately, Royal Pain made the mistake of starting a monologue, rather than take advantage of their shock and weakened position. "And there goes your last chance of stopping me!"

Normally, Roisin would appreciate Melissa's black humour and take a few mental notes on the speech for her next Literature class on Monologues, but this time she only shook her head and pointed as Warren grabbed Layla to prevent her lunging forward. "Maybe not."

Pointing behind your opponent was a trick older than time, which most people somehow still fell for, but it so happened that Roisin actually was pointing at something. Or rather, someone. Will Stronghold was probably thanking the fates that children of two Supers could inherit both powers, usually in very harrowing circumstances.

His technique could use some work, but since Stronghold had only had his Flight powers for a few seconds, he could probably be excused a bit of shakiness, and the slightly giddy grin. "Surprised? So am I!"

Despite the mechanical overlay caused by the armor, Royal Pain's voice carried an almost indignant note. "You're flying? That's impossible!"

Except it wasn't, since Stronghold tackled Royal Pain, lifting her to the ceiling of the Gym and throwing her down hard enough to crack the floor and the cement underneath, following up with a punch that knocked her helmet off, and the villain seemingly unconscious.

* * *

After what felt like far too long scurrying through a maze of conduits, Magenta finally found what looked like the main generator for the fancy tech that kept Sky High hidden. If sidekicks were taught stuff that was actually useful in Shop class, she would be more certain. Instead, she squeaked as loudly as she could, hoping that the other sidekicks could hear her. "I found the generator… I think."

Zach's voice echoed faintly back, "OK, you need to cut the wire connected to the scrambler."

Which wire was that? If she survived the night, Magenta was so sneaking into her older brother's room and finding his notes from Hero Shop class. "What?"

It was a good thing that her rodent form had excellent hearing. "The red one! Cut the red wire!"

Well, that certainly narrowed things down. Not. "There's a lot of red wires down here!"

She picked a random one and started to chew, just as a light started beeping on the generator, and the school seemed to drop. "Uh-oh."

* * *

Warren and the twins cursed themselves for forgetting that just because someone _looked_ unconscious _,_ didn't mean they weren't faking it. Gravity pushed them all flat to the floor as Layla screamed. "The school is falling!"

Melissa stopped screaming for a moment to snap at her. "We noticed!"

Stronghold managed to propel himself out a window, and Warren and Roisin exchanged worried looks. Double heritage third-generation Super or not, Stronghold was still only a teenager. Even if he could fly fast enough to catch the school, could he hold it? Could he carry it long enough to get the anti-gravity technology working again?

Warren pulled the older twin close, hoping that Stronghold could actually live up to his legend for once, and wishing that the timing didn't make it seem so much like a bad cliché.

* * *

The Pied Piper and the Cryptographer clutched their younger daughter, gripping Evanna's hands and hoping that their older daughter was safe. She was with Warren, but when you are falling from several thousand miles up, the capabilities of your companions don't mean much, and as far as any of them knew, none of the non-pacified Heroes could fly.

Even so, the former villainess couldn't help smiling at the sight of Ethan and Zach clinging to each other and alternating between screams of "Hold me!" and "Chew!"

With a lot of luck, the laws of narrative comedy would kick in and the Shifter Sidekick would get the anti-gravity device working again.

* * *

Miracle of miracles, Magenta succeeded at the last possible second before flattening a civilian neighbourhood, and attention turned to unloading the pacified students and teachers.

Penny was still tangled up in vines in the cafeteria, Gwen was unconscious for real and Mecha Girl had taken the precaution of messing up the wiring in her armor beyond hope of repair. Speed and Lash were in a trembling heap near the edge of the school, with a group of genetically modified rats guarding them.

Everyone tried not to think about the real problem. The Cryptographer could communicate and control any computer system in the world, but reversing the effects of the Pacifier was an entirely different field, and the resident genius was currently a toddler.

Layla placed a baby seat on the ground. "Now what?"

Will shrugged helplessly, placing the seat that he was pretty sure contained his mother down next to Layla's. "Beats me."

Warren tried not to feel too weirded out as he lifted Mr Medulla's seat down, the Mad Science teacher's head merely a much smaller version of his adult one, and his voice amusingly high pitched. "Perhaps I can be of assistance. It should only take me a couple of hours to re-configure the Pacifier. Mr Peace?"

That was his father's legal name, Warren's parents having flipped a coin to decide who changed their name upon marriage. He wondered what they would think if they could see him now. "Yeah?"

Mr Medulla somehow conveyed the impression that this was nothing out of the ordinary. "Would you please carry me to the Mad Science lab?"

Warren pitied whoever Mr Medulla's parents had been, to have dealt with him as a child. "Sure."

He wrinkled his nose suddenly, smelling something. His worst fears were confirmed when Mr Medulla looked sheepish. "And Mr Peace?"

Oh no. "Yeah?"

A guilty smile. "Regrettably, I have made boom-boom."

Roisin sighed as Stronghold and his friends immediately backed away, as if Mr Medulla was in possession of a rare and fatal disease, rather than a dirty diaper. "Oh, give him here. I'm struggling in Mad Science, and this should be enough to bring my average up to a B, at least."

Mr Medulla frowned, his voice still a helium-like high pitch. "What makes you think that?"

Roisin smiled beatifically. "Because otherwise you'll get diaper rash, and good luck explaining that to your date, if you really do follow up with the twins from the Paper Lantern."

* * *

It was nearing midnight, and several of the parents of current Sky High students had shown up (the problem with automatic alerts was that the person receiving it had to actually check their phone or email, and most parents were enjoying a night without the kids), only adding to the chaos, by the time Mr Medulla managed to successfully reverse the effects of the pacifier.

Principal Powers was walking around with a megaphone, directing people through the halls, many of them wrapped in nothing but towels or blankets. "People, if you have already been de-Pacified please find your clothes, grab a baby and report to the Mad Science Lab!"

Those students who had saved the day were standing in a group with Ron Wilson, bus driver, as the adults stood off to the side, talking quietly. Will nervously edged toward his parents, who had been among the first to be returned back to normal and were safely dressed in their uniforms again. "Mom? Dad? Guys? I just wanted to say sorry because this whole thing is kind of my fault."

Jetstream placed a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, honey, you can't blame yourself."

The Commander rubbed a bit of baby drool off his uniform. "Of course not. How were you supposed to know your girlfriend was a total psychopath?"

Nearby, the twins, Evanna and Melissa sniggered. Will cringed, looking even guiltier. "No, that's not it. You gave me one rule, and I broke it. I took her into the Sanctum, and that's how she got the Pacifier. The whole party was a trap."

The Commander shrugged. "And so was Homecoming, Will. We all fell into Royal Pain's trap. But you defeated her. You saved Sky High, and everyone in Her."

Will just looked relieved that he wasn't being grounded for the rest of his life. "I didn't do it by myself."

Mr Boy appeared, thankfully dressed and holding a trophy. "Excuse me, Steve, Josie? Even though it appears that Gwen only came up with this Award as a way to lure you to the dance and your ultimate doom, still it's inscribed, so…"

The Commander accepted the trophy, causing the more jaded Heroes of the hour to roll their eyes in exasperation. "I'd be honoured to accept this Hero of the Year award. But I'm afraid, this doesn't belong to us. "

Stronghold's friends and Warren's group looked up as the two Heroes approached, Jetstream smiling, "It belongs to them. The Sidekicks. I mean, Hero Support."

The Commander smiled also, though his looked a bit more practiced. "Why don't we just call them what they really are, Josie. Heroes."

He held out the trophy dramatically, and Stronghold's Sidekicks reached out to grip it as well, grinning like they had been handed the world on a platter. Will and Layla exchanged grins. Melissa moved closer to Evanna and Alara, away from the other sidekicks. Warren draped an arm over Roisin's shoulders. Almost around the corner, the Pied Piper rolled her eyes.

* * *

After a quick, quieter conversation with Mr Boy, the Commander and Jetstream approached the adults, looking and feeling slightly awkward. All of them sided with Firestar, either openly or quietly, and in hindsight, the two Superheroes could have behaved better toward them. "Er, look…"

The Pied Piper didn't even let them get past the first syllables, stalking away toward her daughters. The Cryptographer gestured after her, "Since she's currently working a case against you, talking to you personally might be called as a conflict of interest, and I doubt that my wife is in any mood for your patronising remarks."

The Commander frowned. "What do you mean: patronizing? Those kids are heroes, no matter what their powers are. Even I admit it!"

The Peacekeeper gave him a bored look. "Yes, but as soon as they get back to school tomorrow, they're back to being separated from the heroes who ran around like headless chickens, and back to classes that don't teach them how to be anything more than an accessory. No amount of empty words or reluctant admissions will change that."

The Commander frowned, hating to admit that the Empath had a point. The Hero/Sidekick divide would not be fixed overnight, even though the students had thoroughly proved that it didn't matter which track you were classified into.

Penny, Lash, Speed and Gwen, all in the Hero track, had displayed several very far-from-Heroic qualities, while the sidekicks had proven themselves braver and more capable than most of the Hero students.

Still, Steve had been sincere in what he said to his son's friends. The Superhero Council would want a report as soon as possible, and Steve intended to be the one giving it, so he could recommend some changes to Sky High.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to say it, and hope that it doesn't come off as begging for reviews: Action scenes are really hard for me to write, and it is really frustrating when I work so hard on a chapter for a story that I know has more than 50 follows and favourites, and wind up with only a single review.
> 
> It is both frustrating and discouraging, and makes me wonder if a story is worth continuing, as there seems to be little to no interest in reading it.
> 
> Still, we've reached the end of the movie, and it's time to move on to original ideas. Hopefully my creativity is up to the task.
> 
> Again, I'm sorry for the wait between chapters, but with writing, organising and directing a Children's Play, research and documentation for two competitions and a class on medieval hairstyles, writing has taken a back-seat. I'm off to New Zealand for a week, and work starts two days after I get home (yay for the Australia Day public holiday), so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be, but you can check out the various other stories while you wait


	13. ChapterThirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath

The Commander was slightly embarrassed when he finally realised just how far beneath Heroes that Sidekicks were considered to be, at least by the current administration.

He had put off going into the Superhero Council headquarters for two days after Homecoming, giving the Pied Piper and the Peacebringer time to collect statements from everyone for Royal Pain's trial. He and Jetstream had even promised to accompany Warren to the Maxville Maximum Security prison to speak with a few of the Villains from Royal Pain's time at Sky High. Apparently, Royal Pain had been the only one to realise that messing with the Pied Piper's loved ones only ever ended badly, and the Villains, some of whom had been represented by Patricia in court, were more likely to tell what they knew of Gwen's plans to the son of a Villain, a strange form of honour amongst evil, in exchange for their co-operation being noted on record for a shorter sentence.

Josie told her husband later, privately, that she was a little worried what the Pied Piper might accomplish with such co-operation-in-exchange-for-leniency notes, but it couldn't be helped.

Steve was also worried when he realised that Sidekicks might not be so dangerous individually, but they were much better at working in groups than Heroes, and even more skilled at complementing each other's powers and using a stronger Super's powers against them.

For example, the Peacekeeper had used his Empathy to make sure that everyone felt like being entirely truthful, especially those who were closest to Gwen and would be tempted to try and make themselves look better by lying. The girl who turned into a ball had used a bully's tendency to kick her down a hall to get somewhere much faster than she could under her own power, and, from the training session he had observed, was very good at changing form at exactly the right moment to knock someone off-balance as they fought another Sidekick.

As much as Warren and the Pied Piper's children had proved themselves during Homecoming, the Commander still worried about what would happen if continued refusing to treat them as the heroes they were, or even as normal children.

The Superhero Council, however, did not seem to share that opinion. Heroes were Heroes and Sidekicks were Sidekicks, and even the famous Commander couldn't change the traditional roles that stretched back to the dawn of time. Sky High as a school had a certain amount of autonomy, as far as class structure and courses went, so perhaps he would have to start there.

Like he had told Will on the first day of school, he wouldn't be around forever, and the Superhero council was mostly made up of long-retired Heroes. Perhaps by the time Will and his friends Graduated, there would be fresh minds with fresh perspectives.

But that was something that he could worry about later. For now, he had to visit the Maximum Security prison that housed his Arch-Enemy.

* * *

Baron Battle wasn't sure whether to be pleased or infuriated at what he heard through the Prison Grapevine, as four teenagers, too young to have graduated, become disillusioned and switched sides, were brought into the Juvenile Wing. Allergen, a villainess who had been exposed to toxic chemicals during experiments in bio-research, had taken pity on the two girls, one of whom had been the school gossip, and the other the Ringleader of the plot that landed them in a cell, who couldn't stop ranting about how her plan should have worked.

Allergen had promptly told her cell-mate, and then branched out to the rest of the prison population during lunch and recreation time. By the time they received word of an impending visit from the Commander, Jetstream and the Pied Piper, everyone knew what had happened at Sky High Homecoming, and Baron Battle was feeling conflicted.

On the one hand, he was very pleased that the Super community seemed to finally be realising that Warren was not a clone, after all the years they had spend making his life hell by refusing to let him escape his fathers shadow.

On the other hand, the fire-user was furious that it had taken such drastic measures for people to realise that! What were they doing at Sky High, that a Super Villain almost as dangerous as Barron himself had managed to recruit minions and stage a hostile takeover of the one place that was supposed to be safe?

And Warren had been the only pseudo-adult (as an emancipated teen, he legally counted as a adult, but was still only sixteen) to keep his head and lead a running battle against the Villains, while the teachers, Superheroes and Hero students ran around like headless chickens. He knew that his reputation would most likely be shot to pieces, but he jumped up and pulled his son into a tight hug as soon as he walked into the room, totally ignoring the two Superheroes behind him and the girl holding his son's hand.

For nearly a full minute, Warren hugged him back tightly, the only vulnerability that Barron knew his son would show in front of witnesses. Finally, the Supervillain pulled back and gestured for all of them to take a seat. It probably didn't do him any good to deliberately antagonise the Commander, who hated the way Barron managed to present the illusion that he was in control of the situation, but with four Life Sentences, Barron would take his pleasures and victories where he could get them. "I take it Homecoming didn't go quite as well as you had planned?"

The Commander and Jetstream started, probably jumping to the conclusion that he had been in on it. Warren looked slightly pained, most likely anticipating a bout of parental protectiveness. The girl, from her looks almost certainly one of the Pied Piper's girls, though only three when last he saw them, laughed. "Well, before and after the attack was interesting, the music wasn't horrible and the dancing was fun. How did you find out?"

Baron Battle smirked. "Royal Pain and her associates are in the Juvenile Ward right now, and haven's stopped arguing with each other since they arrived. It wasn't hard to pick up the basics, but talk to allergen if you want the gritty details."

Jetstream looked slightly embarrassed, while the Pied Piper looked amused. The Commander tried to pretend that he hadn't reacted, and the teenagers grinned. "Enforced, constant exposure to Penny for a long time. How nice for them to be on the receiving end, for once."

Barron laughed and settled back to enjoy the visit.

* * *

The parents who had only found out about Royal Pain's attack when their children returned home were understandably reluctant to let their children out of the house over the weekend or the three days that Sky High was closed for repairs. Finally, however, the students involved in foiling Royal Pain's plot managed to either persuade their guardians or quietly sneak out long enough to meet up in the city park.

Will and Layla arrived first, fresh from their first official date, closely followed by Warren and Roisin. Zach and Magenta were next, arriving less than a minute before Alara, Melissa and Evanna. Ethan was last, having been caught twice on his way out.

There was a small cluster of trees in the centre of the park, surrounding a small rock formation, most commonly used by couples wanting some time out of the private eye. Layla encouraged the trees and undergrowth to expand, blocking them from view. Roisin raised a shadow barrier around the interior, preventing sound from escaping, and Zach provided some dim illumination.

Somehow, the restriction about only using your powers in the School Gym seemed far less important, after the events of Homecoming.

For a long time, no-one knew where to start. Finally, Alara sighed. "OK, I know this is awkward, but there are some things that we do need to discuss, and our parents want us home before dark."

Layla looked relieved that someone else had broken the ice. "We could go in a circle. Everyone picks one question the want to ask, and we take turns."

Warren nodded. "As long as I don't have to go first, sure."

Vague murmurs of agreement came from everyone else, and Layla gestured to Will. "You can go first, Will."

Will looked as though he wouldn't have minded forgoing that privilege, but gave in. "OK, this is going to sound bad, so I'm sorry in advance. Of all the people in Sky High, why did you guys pick Warren to hang out with? There are plenty of others who would have welcomed you."

The pyro in question shrugged the implied insult off. "I'm not offended, and was kind of wondering the same thing. I already had a group of friends, and I wasn't exactly welcoming to any of you. If Layla hadn't phrased her Homecoming Invitation as a way to annoy Stronghold, I would have turned her down flat."

Layla squirmed a bit. "Well, in my case, it was the first name that popped into my head, and the only person that I knew for sure would get a reaction out of you."

Zach gestured to himself and Ethan. "You promised that you wouldn't let being in the Hero Class stop you from being friends with us, but then you dropped us to spend all of your time with the Hero kids. That hurt, man, ditching us for your popular new friends."

Will had guessed some of that, but hearing it from the mouths of friends he had known since first grade made it even worse. "I'm not trying to make an excuse, but I didn't mean to brush you off. It was just, these were the kids I was going to be surrounded by for the rest of High School, and I wasn't sure how to stand up to them when they insisted that I had to be careful who I was seen with if I wanted to be friends with them."

Evanna scoffed, but there was a small trace of empathy in her eyes. "True friends don't make you pick a side, or place conditions on friendship. You need to work on standing up for yourself and for the people you care about."

Ethan steered the conversation away, leaning forward eagerly as he addressed his question to Alara and Roisin. "What is it like, having a Supervillain and a Hero for parents?"

Roisin gave him a half-smile, amused that he had actually said it. "Not that much different than normal parents, I imagine, though Mom has a greater tolerance for using dirty tricks to win a fight. Dad leaves Hero work at the door and in the Secret Sanctum, just like Mom leaves her work in the study."

Alara agreed, edging closer to her twin. "Besides, 'Supervillain' is a bit harsh, given that all she did was ditch the misogynistic moron she had been assigned to, and hold a few people hostage for a few thousand dollars to pay for Law School."

Melissa agreed. "Mom says that Villains can be a lot more practical than Heroes, sometimes, too. Or at least, they plan for possibilities more than Heroes do. Dad says that no-one was surprised that she dropped Silverblade, just that it took her as long as it did."

Magenta smirked. "My dad mentioned the same thing. He was Silverblade's first sidekick, two before the Pied Piper, and he sometimes says that he wishes he had thought of making such a dramatic exit."

Zach and Layla both stared at the shapeshifter, apparently shocked at the idea that Heroes and Villains could have anything in common. Silverblade, along with his ability to generate blades of silver-coloured energy, had the unique gift of infuriating everyone he encountered, and an impressively high Sidekick turnover rate.

Zach recovered first. "What about you, Warren? What was your dad like?"

Warren frowned, before being distracted by a soft 'ping'. Similar noises came from the twins. He pulled a phone out of his pocket. "I don't know how much I'm allowed to say about that. Mrs Wu wants me to check in at the Paper Lantern. She's been a bit fussy ever since she found out about Homecoming."

The twins stood up. "Mum wants us home, too, or a message from Mrs Wu if we choose to go to the Paper Lantern with Warren. We can either continue there, or meet up again tomorrow."

Will shrugged. "I still owe Layla a date, and my parents won't mind, as long as I let them know where we are. Guys?"

Ethan nodded. "If I manage to sneak back home and ask permission, it should be fine. I hope."

Evanna smiled at him. "I'll go with you. My parents got called away on a mission earlier, and won't be back until tomorrow."

Layla stood up, shrinking the trees to the point where they could all get back through into the main park. "We'll see you there, then."

 

 

 


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout and aftermath of Royal Pain's attack

The first day back at Sky High was… odd.

Classes hadn't changed yet, since it took more than three days to design a whole new curriculum, and no announcement had been made, but the Hero Support remained cautiously optimistic. Warren and Roisin weren't so sure, but held their silence.

The odd part was stepping out of the flying car (the school buses were being inspected to make sure Royal Pain hadn't left any booby-traps, which meant a lot more air-traffic than usual) and having half the quad burst into applause. It probably said a lot about their low expectations that Warren and the Twins were actually surprised by the reaction.

Will and his friends, arriving less than a minute later, grinned broadly when they were applauded, but they were far more on the 'sunshine and rainbows' side of things. Will and Warren exchanged weirded-out looks when a bunch of senior girls, who had never given either of them the time of day before, asked to walk to class together.

Layla growled, the grass on the school lawn rippling dangerously. Maybe the fight had been good for her in terms of assertiveness. The twins laughed and rolled their eyes, before taking one of Warren's arms each and gliding away, ignoring the seniors.

* * *

There was a special school assembly straight after home-room; another oddity, as normally those only happened at the beginning and end of the school year.

Sitting down in a group, Roisin leaning against Warren and Will and Layla holding hands, they kept their voices low and tried to ignore the whispers around them, knowing that everyone was discussing the same topic: What was the special assembly about?

From the row behind them, Zach leaned over. "Do you think it's about what happened at Homecoming?"

Evanna shrugged. "I can't think of anything else it would be about. My question is, is this a lecture about how turning evil isn't the only option, a generic bullying seminar, or an announcement about things actually changing as a result?"

Melissa created several tiny bits of ice, sending them down the shirt of a Junior several rows down, who was harassing a Sophomore sidekick, smiling briefly when he jumped and nearly fell off his seat. "Probably the first. Can you actually see the Superhero Council being willing to break such 'time-honoured' traditions?"

The automatic scoff from everyone within earshot who wasn't a First-Generation super went un-noticed as Principal Powers stepped up to the Microphone. "Good morning, students. I hope you enjoyed your time off while the school was being re-built."

A ripple of combined laughter and agreement rippled through the audience at the principal's joke, before the tone grew serious. "To lose students in such a way, to see their unique talents wasted, is a terrible tragedy. An even more terrible one, however, would be if we failed to learn from them. We learned that being powerful doesn't make you perfect, or even superior. We learned that Hero Support can be a greater asset than we ever dreamed. Most importantly, we learned that we need to change the way we do things, or we will stagnate, while our enemies advance."

Scattered applause and murmuring ran through the students, some pleased, some angry, all waiting to hear what would come next. Roisin blinked. "How much authority does the Superhero council have over the school curriculum, and can they afford the bad press from the Supers with kids at Sky High?"

A nearby Senior leaned over, "Their influence is more over what happens after Sky High, the school curriculum is still mostly in the hands of the Bureau of Education, I think. The council does have some input, though more in the form of 'expert consultation' than any real decision-making."

They all quietened down as Principal Powers continued. "Over the next few days, you will be receiving new timetables, reflecting these changes. There will also be harsher punishments for harassing or bullying of your fellow students. Likewise, you are expected to take problems to the school authorities, rather than dealing with it yourselves. We realise that no system is perfect, and that High School is never easy, but as future Superheros, you are held to a higher standard than most. It is time to live up to that. Dismissed."

Huh.

Maybe the Commander and Jetstream hadn't just been blowing hot air, after all.

* * *

Integration and co-operation between Heroes and Sidekicks sounded great, but of course it was never going to be that simple. Even only a few months into the school year, the Sidekicks were miles behind, because, as Sidekicks, they had been expected to leave the thinking up to the Heroes. All of a sudden, that had changed, and they were scrambling to catch up.

Whether it was advanced techniques in Gym, logistics in Maths, the amount of detail expected in History or the material covered in English, it was harder than any of the Sidekicks had anticipated. Mad Science was about the only thing that remained the same, purely because Mr Medulla flat-out stated that science was a bad subject to overwhelm people in, and he intended to wait until they were caught up in other areas. He did let anyone who was interested work on individual projects in their free time, though.

On the bright side, impromptu study groups were springing up all over the place, nearly all of them mixed combinations of Hero and Hero Support. That was an encouraging step towards working together as equals, though in Roisin's overly-skeptical mind, she wondered if some of the Heroes weren't trying just a bit too hard, and what actions or prior activities they were trying to draw attention away from.

Maybe it was the result of being raised by a supervillain, but the twins never trusted anything blindly, and after Royal Pain, it would take a while before they stopped looking for hidden motivations in everyone.

Still, it marked an increase in the number of people inviting them to their house, or willing to brave the Pied Piper's "lair" for study sessions, even if those numbers didn't include anyone with immediate family who were either on the Superhero Council, or had lost a court case against the Pied Piper. While she would never admit it, the twins' mother would put up with a lot worse than a small invasion of talkative teens, if it meant that Warren and her daughters finally gained some social acceptance.

* * *

Evanna was not pleased that despite the classes becoming a bit more integrated, at least in terms of material covered, Sidekick Mad Science was still limited, at least when compared to Hero Mad Science.

Admittedly, that was partly because the Sidekicks were still catching up to the level of the Hero Class, and Mr Medulla didn't want dangerous mistakes due to inexperience. Luckily, Mr Medulla liked her, and didn't mind allowing her to experiment in the lab during study hall.

Those sessions turned out to be… interesting. Evanna had known from a very young age that if she survived long enough to make a name for herself as a Hero, she would need to be one who relied on fancy tricks and gadgets. To that extent, nearly all of her Mad Science experiments were part of long-term projects that would be useful when she graduated.

Some, like her current project, where the result of whim, mischief or 'what will happen if I…?'.

One of the popular bullies that had hung around Royal Pain was still managing to coast under the radar due to family connections and lack of hard evidence, since she never did the legwork herself. She was also working on a project that had something to do with silkworms – the bully had been chattering about it with her friends while encouraging a few jocks to stuff Evanna into her locker - and was the biggest arachnophobe in the school, if not the city.

Evanna intended to create a cross-breed that looked like a silkworm until it spun its cocoon, and emerged as a big, hairy spider.

So far, Evanna had managed to create a spider whose eggs hatched into a mix of silkworms and baby spiders, a silkworm who fed on insects instead of maple leaves and whose silk was even stronger and more energy-resistant than spider-silk, and a spider with four legs and a long, straight body. Evanna had put the 'spiderworm', as she named the insect-eating silkworm, to the side, thinking of the possibilities when it came to creating a superhero costume and as an alibi if she got caught in her prank, and went back to work.

This time, she was sure she had it. Well, not quite, but she had a silkworm that spontaneously turned into a large, non-venomous spider for a few seconds, and that would serve her purpose well enough.

It was all very well to say 'let the school administration deal with it', but when that failed, sometimes you needed to take your own measures.

Evanna had helped save the lives of everyone in the school. She deserved more than to go back to being their punching bag when they needed to feel good about themselves.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know it's been way too long since I updated.
> 
> Unfortunately, life happened, other projects got in the way, my computer deleted the nearly-finished chapter without the back-up, and so on. I'm also starting a new job with erratic hours, and that will also cut down on the amount of time I have available to spend on writing.
> 
> As always, reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated. I can't tell you how depressing it is to work so hard on a chapter… and rely on a hit counter to see if people are even reading the story, never mind if they like it or not.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two steps forward, one step back

The rest of the semester past relatively quietly, as the students tested the limits of the new rules, and settled into the new routine.

Evanna stopped having as many problems with bullies after the incident with the spider/silkworm. No-one could prove that it had been anything more than an accidental escape from the Mad Science lab, and most of the potential bullies picked up the hint that Evanna was clearly a lot more than a helpless sidekick.

Warren and his friends were feeling almost optimistic by the time half-yearly exams rolled around, and things went wrong again.

* * *

In contrast to the Hero Support track, the biggest problem the Hero track faced was boredom as they waited for the Sidekicks to catch up to their level.

Bored teenagers of any kind were bad enough, but when you added superpowers and the fact that they studied things like evil plots and how to defeat them… well, then things really got a bit too interesting.

Previously, only the Hero track had to do such an assignment, with the presumption that they would be telling their sidekick what to do, and Freshmen got a pass in in that subject if their 'plot' assignment essentially boiled down to a rant on how Good will always defeat Evil, but after the Homecoming fiasco, the Sky High curriculum was demanding a higher standard.

On the bright side, at least it meant that Homework was interesting, for once, and the Stronghold Circle, as Warren had dubbed Will and his friends, were amusing to watch during study group as they read through the homework in preparation for the in-class 'foiling plots' part of the assignment. "A Super villain has declared themselves emperor/ess of the world. The only way to stop them is when they are being crowned. How will you do this?"

Warren shrugged. "Get into a vantage position and throw a well-aimed fireball? Have a backup projectile weapon of some kind? All of the shields invented so far have been able to repel powers or physical objects, but not both, and you can take them down if you find the energy source. I can't remember the name, but one Villain plugged his shields into a wall socket and left a bunch of fancy-looking fake energy sources to distract the Heroes. It would have worked, if a new aide hadn't tripped over the power cord."

The twins snickered loudly, before trying to disguise it as a cough. Alara offered her opinion. "Go to the ceremony and start talking to the other invitees, asking about who had been conquered and if the Super Villain counted as a legitimate government. If enough countries refused to recognize the Villain, he would be largely powerless and Supreme Ruler in their own mind."

That got her some curious looks from the rest of the table. Roisin shrugged and elaborated. "If I wanted to take over the world, the first anyone would hear about it would be when they got an invitation. Governments don't want to look stupid in front of other governments, so they wouldn't openly question if I had taken over the world or not, and by the time they found out that I hadn't done anything more than invite them to my coronation, it would have been highly publicized enough that they would have officially accepted my rule by default. Take what you think the Villain would have done to get to that point, and work backwards."

Magenta finally broke the silence. "You know, if I hadn't remembered that your mother was a lawyer, that would have sounded really creepy."

Alara grinned and took a sip of her drink. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

* * *

Perhaps it hadn't been the wisest idea to show off a little, but the twins had learned plots and how to foil them as bedtime stories. (Patricia was hopeless at the traditional songs, and couldn't read fairytales without going into detail on how the storyline should never have worked and how to do it better) Misdirection, plugging the holes that could be exploited by any Hero who stopped to think about it, and keeping it as simple as practical had been easy.

The plan had been listed in a password-protected folder marked 'Home Economics recipies', several folders below a firewall-protected one labelled 'Evil Plots', that held a heavily-protected sub-folder that even a Technopath would struggle to get into, which held a recipe for their grandmother's award-winning turkey stuffing.

Getting through that, and then trawling through the other folders, had taken up over half of Ben's allotted time, even before he had to find a way to foil it, and realised that he had no chance. Being one of those people who never admits that failure might have something to do with their lack of preparation, he didn't even try, but launched an appeal to the teacher.

Warren found out that Roisin had a short after-school detention from Melissa, although she was sketchy on the details, when the twins failed to meet him after school. Alara's absence was explained when Evanna told him she had been called to the Principal's office, though she also didn't know what for.

Melissa and Evanna were expected at home, but Warren didn't have to be at work until six, so he just decided to get his homework done while waiting for them.

When they showed up after only an hour (which meant that whatever happened couldn't have been too serious), Warren only raised an eyebrow, trying not to let on that he had been concerned. "What happened?"

The twins exchanged glances, rolling their eyes. Roisin went first. "Did you ever do that assignment where you had to create a plot, switch with a classmate, and then foil their plot?"

Warren nodded, remembering a certain amount of glee when Lash had been forced to stay behind after class, still not having figured out a foil. The bully had finally earned a D- for finally submitting a generic 'hope-for-the-best' plan that stood little chance of working on any plot, let alone Warren's. "I remember. How did that get you detention?"

Roisin pulled a face. "Ben Hellman figured out early that there was no way he would manage to come up with something to foil my plot, so he went up to the teacher and asked if I had gone overboard and could he have an extension, because the daughter of a Villainess had an unfair advantage. The teacher didn't take it to Principal Powers, and just gave me detention for disrespect when I protested that other people's incompetence was hardly my fault."

She shrugged, and Alara took her turn. The Sidekicks would be doing that assignment in class next week, without notes, and she had landed in trouble for an entirely different reason. "A couple of the older heroes were bragging that they never liked Royal Pain and knew that something was wrong with her," (which the twins had found obvious: no one was that sweet and 'perfect' without having an agenda or something wrong with them) "and I pointed out that their 'knowledge' hadn't stopped them from being taken in, and they weren't the ones to stop her and save everyone. They told Principal Powers that I was slandering them and implying that I had supported Royal Pain. She said that it was not an appropriate topic to gossip about, and threw us all in detention. At least I only got an hour after school. They got a Friday afternoon one."

That was all too familiar, and Warren scowled. That was always the excuse: s/he is the offspring of a Villain/ess, so obviously they were in the wrong. It wasn't like the second generation could possibly have a mind and personality of their own, after all. At least some of the teachers had common sense, even if they were fixated on keeping up appearances at the expense of their less-popular students. "How much trouble are you in? Aside from detention, I mean."

Roisin shrugged. "None, really. Ben got a lecture on misuse of due process, and a Friday Detention, and he's been complaining about it ever since, so it probably won't happen again."

Huh. Well, maybe things were looking up after all.

 


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Freshman Year

The rest of the year passed fairly quietly, with most of the trouble-makers either spending too much time in detention to cause problems, or wising up and backing off.

The only real upset was getting a new bus driver shortly after Spring Break, when Ron Wilson fell into a vat of toxic waste and grew to about forty times his usual size. The kids he had driven were glad that he finally achieved his wish of being a superhero (after a few months re-learning how to move in crowded places), but they also really wanted him back, because they were fairly sure that a tetraplegic snail would have a better chance of getting them to school on time than the new bus driver did.

At least they had a ready-made excuse for being late in the mornings.

* * *

Finals were gruling, to say the least.

With Heroes not used to having to remember the fine details (that was what Sidekicks had been for) and Sidekicks not used to playing any large role in a straight fight (that was what Heroes had been for), the mandatory study groups were lasting longer and longer, with students frantically trying to learn or revise the things that were likely to be in their exams. It was a very good thing that, thanks to the new curriculm being introduced mid-year, the new subjects were likely to be graded on a curve.

Roisin's group, who had been rather more well-rounded in their training outside of school, were a lot calmer, and focusing on training their powers. Unfortunately, this relaxed attitude did not endear them to the frayed nerves of the other students, and it was only a matter of time until someone lashed out.

The incident came between classes, where there was less of a possibility of staff showing up to intervene. Evanna and the twins were heading to Mad Science from Study Hall, quizzing each other on the effects of falling into toxic waste vs experimental acid when they were ambushed by a group of Seniors. "So, you think you don't have to worry because you helped the real heroes save the school?"

Evanna stopped her explanation of how the different compounds and pre-existing meta-potential affected transformation, recognising most of the Seniors as those who had flocked around Royal Pain, but not been part of her inner core. "Trying to get even where your Mistress failed?"

The remaining three were the triplets who had convinced Isolde to spy on the twins, who sneered at her. "Trying to become a minion, since you know you'll never make it as a sidekick?"

Roisin glared at them. "Get some new material, will you? Outclassing you doesn't make a person evil, and it's not exactly hard."

The triplets snarled and lunched, only to be blocked by a solid wall of shadows. One of the followers, a red-haired empath, flipped over it, Roisin raising the shield a little too late, and aimed a punch at Evanna, who shifted into a ball and back, causing her attacker to lurch off-balance. She froze in place halfway to the floor, courtesy of Alara, whose control of water in the human body was improving.

One of the triplets who hadn't spoken tried to charge the barrier, only to bounce off and collide with the third sibling, taking them both down. Evanna caught sight of movement at the edges of the crowd, teachers on their way to find out why their students weren't in class yet, and hissed a warning.

Alara released the empath, who collapsed, and all three instantly took defensive positions, just in time for the teachers to break through and stick their attackers in Detention.

* * *

Fire was a passionate element, and those who wielded it could never be described as shy or having a passive temperament. They could keep it under control, but extreme emotions made it easy to lose that control.

Warren had inherited enough of his mother's personality to temper the flame inside him into a quieter type of anger until someone pushed him too far, but that made him no less dangerous, which people tended to forget at times. Listening to him yell about the afternoon's events (away from any goody-two-shoes who might report it) when Alara had accidentally mentioned it, the twins were reminded of this danger when the Jaffle Iron that was making an afternoon snack suddenly caught fire.

Shadows and darkness are patient, and those connected to them watch and listen and wait for the right moment to strike. Water moved slowly, and found ways around obstacles. Roisin caught the shadows cast by the flames, bringing them back under control, while Alara drew the water from a damp dishcloth to smother the rest. "Do you feel better now?"

Warren ignored the dry tone, thankful that he was at their house rather than at the Jade Dragon, but did manage to calm down. Luckily, a blazing fire burns hot and fierce, and dies just as swiftly. Warren joined the two girls on the couch. "Not really. What are you doing?"

It was a very obvious attempt to change the subject, but no one made a point of it. Roisin held up a book on rope work. "I'm trying to see if it's possible to create a net of shadows, which might make it easier to get several people at once."

That sounded interesting, and a good idea. "What about non-tangible things?" He created a small ball of fire, making it hover in the air, away from anything flammable. Nearby shadows wove themselves into a tight net, catching the fireball. Roisin spun the net gently over her head, and the fire was dragged with it. She smiled and opened the net again, sending the fire back toward Warren, who caught it and extinguished the flame. "We'll have to practice that more when we get the chance. It could be useful."

* * *

It was Summer Break, and even superheroes-in-training were out and enjoying themselves. There was a street fair on, this particular weekend , and a group of ten teenagers, while larger than most groups and fluctuating a little when one or a few of them saw something in a stall and broke away for a few minutes, went mostly un-noticed.

It ended when there was a strange buzzing sound, and a bunch of stage props suddenly transformed into Robots, charging into the crowd. A troupe of clowns, who had just finished giving a very lacklustre performance, suddenly cackled madly, half of them tearing off their regalia to reveal more robots, their heads painted to resemble clown faces.

Off to the side, Melissa cringed. "Wonderful. As though Clowns weren't nightmare-inducing enough already."

Roisin shoved a handful of bills at a vendor, grabbing five carnival masks and passing them out to Warren and the other three girls. "Secret Identities. Warren, take the lead."

The Pyro nodded, as Will and his group scrambled to get their own disguises. "Mel, Rose, containment and shields, we want to minimise casualties."

There were too many civilians around to use full names. Shadows grabbed a curtain, yanking it across the main street to form a barrier between the robots and the panicking crowd. Ice froze it solid and anchored it to the ground. A flickering wall of shadows, and another of ice, shielded the vending stalls as Will's group dodged through the barriers and Warren continued, "Ev, grab the popsicle and see if you can get closer. Mag, go with them. Try and figure out how the Robots work and shut them down if you can. Will, Hippie, get any civilians inside the barriers out."

Will grabbed a screaming couple and flew over the main barrier. A garden stall came to life, vines extending and lifting younger children to safety.

Warren tried to look at the situation objectively. Out of the corner of his eye, the news crew that had been covering the fair were trying to get closer for a better view, and several civilians had their phones out. That couldn't be helped. Alara had been working on her control of water in people, and in a pinch, there was a fire-truck with hoses. They would contain a limited supply of water, and it was possible that the robots were water-proof, but it could be a back-up plan.

A Guinea-pig was rolling a large ball toward the stage, bright orange goo clinging to it. Best to keep attention away from them. "Oi, Chuckles!"

Melissa, Zach and the twins came to flank him as the clowns, spun their attention away from the civilians and toward him. "That's the Clown Contingent, makers of mayhem, to you! We will not be ignored or ridiculed!"

One of the twins stifled a snigger. "Then you're in the wrong profession, mate."

Zach stared in disbelief, "Dude, did you grab the first thing you could think of, or did you actually put effort into coming up with a lame name?"

A robot lunged at them, only to be engulfed in a blast of fire hot enough to weld its joints in place, and clattered to the ground. At the stage, three teenagers were quietly hunched over what looked like a control panel, Evanna gripping a pole that she had picked up from some scattered props.

A clown and five robots noticed what they were doing and charged in their direction. Evanna, who was better with natural science than with technology, stepped between them and the other two, shifting her grip on the pole and ramming one end against a robot's chest panel. The robot went down, sparking madly, and Evanna smiled menacingly at the others. "Who's next?"

Melissa and Warren went for the joints of the robots, freezing or welding them in place and severely limiting their movement until they could be taken out the old-fashioned way, while the twins and Layla, slightly drained and preferring to work from a distance, went after the clowns themselves. Will used one robot as a sort of club, smashing it into the others, as Magenta and Ethan worked to disable the controls.

Roisin tossed one clown over her hip in a judo throw, using the momentum to spin into a high kick, making another clown stagger back with a heavily bleeding nose. Vines grabbed another clown, tossing him into a robot, but the plants grew weaker the further they reached from their source, and Layla was not used to using her powers for such an extended period, so she retreated from the immediate action, Zach protecting her from anything that got too close. Alara had absolutely no interest in a fair fight, and immobilised the clowns long enough to clobber them with a folding chair.

Up on the stage, Evanna was doing a creditable job of holding off four robots, wielding a pole as a bo staff. A human clown lay a few feet away from her, very much unconscious, as Ethan and Magenta tinkered away. Finally, there was a cry of "got it!" and the robots collapsed.

Two clowns looked around, realised that they were the only ones from their side still standing, and surrendered quietly.

Roisin and Melissa brought down the barriers as the others gathered around them… and stared in dismay at the realization that during the course of the fight, one reporter with a camera had quickly become five, and two of the cameras bore the insignia of major news channels. "Oh, bugger."

Alara sighed. "Mum is going to blow a fuse, but we should probably give them something to make them back off."

Warren groaned, but addressed the media. "Form an orderly line, and one question each, left to right. We reserve the right not to answer questions that intrude on our privacy."

The media were practically bouncing with excitement, and _Maxville_ _Daily_ , fortunate enough to be on the far left, started. "What are your names?"

Melissa took that one, giving the reporter a practiced smile. "I'm Freeze Girl, but since we're still at Sky High, most of us don't have code names yet, and you'll understand why we can't give away our secret identities. Next."

The _Superhero News_ was next. "If you're still students, why are you fighting?"

Alara shrugged, wincing as a shoulder protested and smiling at Warren when he placed a warmed hand on the sore spot. "We were here, and we were capable of dealing with the situation. Do you expect us to simply stand aside and let innocents get hurt, just because we haven't graduated yet?" CNN was after them in the line. "Where are the Commander and Jetstream?"

Will stepped forward to answer that. "We kept the battle contained. If the Mayor doesn't know yet, he may not have alerted them."

 _The Star Network_ , who had been covering the fair in the first place, followed up on that. "You girls did a good job with containment, but why the focus on that, instead of instantly taking the robots down?"

Roisin had touched on that in a Summer Homework essay, and was ready with a response. "One of the biggest problems with Super fights is the damage to property, and civilians being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Superheroes who work alone or in pairs don't always have the chance to focus on taking out the Villain and evacuate the area, but we had the numbers to do both. Last question."

 _Fox News_ was looking very impatient by this point, having had to come up with a new question twice. "Who are they, and do you know what they were after?"

Evanna frowned, seeing Law Enforcement on their way over. "That's two questions. They called themselves the 'Clown Contingent, and while we don't know their objective, we hope that the Mayor and the Superhero council will be able to figure it out. Thank you and goodbye."

They bolted before the news crews could react, splitting up at the first opportunity, with plans to meet at the Paper Lantern that night.

* * *

The Cryptographer and the Pied Piper were at a Work Party, and didn't see the news that night. Unfortunately, the teens had made not only the nightly news, but page three of the morning paper, so the twins were rather rudely awoken by a loud yell from the dining room. "KILLER ROBOTS? GIRLS, COME DOWN HERE NOW!"

The twins rubbed sleep out of their eyes and exchanged glances. Drat.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for taking so long to update. Work has been insane, and I've had several other projects to work on. I've also lost a bit of motivation here, and my NaNoWriMo project was to re-write it as an original story.  
> I'll post a note with a link when the first part is complete.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New School Year

Despite the long lecture from both parents, who were at least more upset that they had heard about the incident in the morning paper, rather from their daughters themselves, than they were that the teenagers had stepped in to help in the first place, Roisin and Alara got off lightly.

They were grounded, only allowed to visit their friends with confirmed parental supervision, or have their friends over when the Cryptographer or the Pied Piper were home, but they were allowed to Skype and use the telephone, which wasn't too far off. It was only a week until Sky High reconvened for the new school year, however, so it wasn't so bad.

Of course, that depended on your perspective. Coach Boomer appeared for dinner two days before term started, asking for the Cryptographer's help in working out a system to sort the Freshmen into classes, since they could no longer be divided into simply 'Hero' and 'Sidekick'.

Unfortunately, the twins' father discovered the listening device that they had planted in their parent's studies (the Pied Piper claimed that it was good practice, since they couldn't expect to be told everything that it would be useful to know), so they would have to wait to find out the solution like everybody else. Sometimes, having a father who could detect electronic devices and their purpose was a nuisance.

Hopefully this year would be slightly less chaotic than last year.

* * *

They didn't have to deal with Speed and Lash, or with anyone else trying to harass the Freshmen, but that may have been because Will and Warren had been selected to show the Freshmen around before Power Placement, and even bullies were hesitant to try their luck against that combination.

Sophomore, Junior and Senior years all had Homeroom until after Power Placement, when there would be a school-wide assembly in the Gym. Looking at her new schedule for the year and copying it into a school diary, Roisin pulled out the textbook for her afternoon class and was about to start reading when someone nudged her with the blunt end of a pencil.

Lifting her head, the older twin was about to fix the culprit with a nasty look and a reminder about the rules on bullying, but paused when she realised that it was Alec, the boy with acid-spit who usually kept to himself, and that he looked eager, not malicious. Glancing at the teacher's desk and keeping his voice low, he flashed her a grin. "I saw the News story about your run-in with the clowns. Awesome work."

Roisin blinked in surprise. Praise for success, rather than suspicion that they had somehow set it up, was rare and unexpected. "Thanks. It was mostly wrong place, right time, but I'm actually surprised that we got off as well as we did."

This seemed to open some kind of floodgate. As the three girls tried to sort through the babble of many people trying to talk over each other, the teacher sighed. "You have until the first bell to discuss this, then I want to see actual work being done."

* * *

After two hours of fielding questions and compliments about the incident at the fair (and Ben Hellman trying to boast that he could have done better), Roisin was very ready for some solitude. Since they had to go to the assembly, she settled for planting herself between Warren and Melissa (whose gritted teeth suggested that they had received a similar barrage), leaning against Warren and closing her eyes as they waited for the rest of the school.

Warren draped an arm over her shoulders and leaned his head against hers, signs of feeling drained to those who knew him. "I knew how much of a pain the media can be, and I guessed at the kind of publicity that comes from the general population. I wouldn't have expected future superheroes to get so worked up over it, though."

Evanna slumped down on Melissa's other side. "I know, right? They didn't get this worked up over Royal Pain, and they were actually there for that."

Melissa shrugged. "Maybe that's part of it. They were present for Royal Pain, and we all thought that she was just another student. I thought Gwen was a stuck-up bitch, but I still felt conflicted."

Alara tilted her head. "You mean, they're excited because this was people who were clearly villains, who we didn't know personally, and they heard about it after the fact, with the typical sensationalism spin of the media?"

Roisin mirrored her twin's action, but was prevented from actually replying when Principal Powers stepped up to the podium. "Welcome to a new year at Sky High."

The students instantly settled down. The last school assembly had been to announce the restructuring of the curriculum, and everyone was interested to know what this one would be about.

Principal Powers looked around, eyes lingering here and there. "We are supers, but we are also human. We make mistakes, and learn from them. We may resist change, but we learn to accept it, and become stronger by our adaptability. Last year, we did away with the notions of Heroes and Sidekicks, acknowledging the disparity between the teachings. This year, we plan to take it a step further. Starting from Sophomore year, you will be working in teams of your choosing."

The student body erupted into whispers. Glancing around, Warren could see that most of the former-sidekick students looked either worried, excited, or a mix of both. Some of the former-hero students looked mutinous, but many of the older ones looked calculating. Interesting. He turned his head slightly to whisper in Roisin's ear. "Thoughts?"

She didn't get a chance to reply before Principal Powers continued. "Some of you may wish to work alone, or in a larger group, or stick to the traditional Hero and Support model. Sophomores and Juniors, you have until the beginning of Senior year to decide on your final pairings, and I advise that you use this opportunity to experiment, to test your strengths and weaknesses, and who you work best with."

Alara's brows furrowed in thought, but she motioned that they would talk later, keeping her attention focused on the Principal. "Seniors, you have until your mid-year exams. Freshmen, this year is for you to learn about yourselves and your powers. You will work as a class or individually this year, and begin to move into groups when you become Sophomores."

Warren and Melissa shared a look with their friends. They were both Juniors; what did that mean for team dynamics? Will, Layla, Ethan, Zach and Magenta were fine, since they were in the same class anyway, but would they be permitted to stay as just their group, or would 'experimenting with team dynamics' be mandatory? Would students be confined to their own year, or could different years work as a single team?

From the subdued murmurs around them, they were not the only ones wondering, but Principal Powers raised her hand before anyone could start calling out. "If you have any questions, there will be a comment box outside the office. If you submit your concerns there, we will look at them and respond to you as soon as possible, either by letter or through Homeroom Announcements."

* * *

Lunch was directly after the assembly, so Warren's group made their way outside, swiftly joined by Will and his friends. Layla was all smiles, extremely pleased at the idea. "I think this is an excellent move toward equal treatment."

Alara shrugged from where she was leaning against Evanna. "It's still open to abuse and exploitation, though."

Magenta slid down across from the younger twin, crossing her legs and opening a lunch bag. "How so?"

Roisin shrugged. "Think of it like a sports team. You ever had that one person who picks the people they like or admire, over people who are actually good or who work well together?"

Melissa threw in her opinion. "Take a look at us. We five work well together, as do you, Zach, Will, Ethan and Layla. I bet that people were already trying to sound each other out for forming groups. Either they won't approach us under the assumption that we're already a group, or two groups, or they'll try to work their way in."

Layla frowned. "You're suggesting that people will chose their friends, rather than people who can work together as a team, or whose powers compliment each other."

Roisin nodded. "Or that the ones who aren't approached, especially those with 'weaker' powers, will band together out of desperation, whether they get along or not. That also leaves them at a disadvantage in both superhero ranking, and if they ever actually get into a battle between Supers."

Evanna tilted her head. "That's probably why Principal Powers made the announcement now and gave us so long to make a final decision. That should give students long enough to figure out if they really _can't_ work together, and the possibility of working with younger or older students. That's something we should look into anyway."

Ethan considered it, "So, what can you think of to make things better? They do have a comments box, so Principal Powers and whoever else was involved is probably aware that there are issues that they haven't thought of yet."

Evanna shrugged. "Set up a network for the lower-ranked hero groups, where they can call each other for back-up? It might be worth considering for the higher-ranked ones, as well. Even Superheroes need to take the occasional personal day, and heaven knows that you can count on Villains to have the _worst_ sense of timing."

Will perked up. "Even if we don't expand our group, maybe temporarily work with people who haven't found a group, so they can decide if they want to work solo, or join up with other solos?"

Layla drew the conversation back to a previous point. "You mentioned rankings. What is all that about?"

Melissa's mother worked as an aide in the rankings department of the superhero council, and had been one of the ones responsible for pairing Heroes with Sidekicks under the old system, so Melissa had the best chance of explaining it. "It's a merit-based, dual-level system that was partially how Supers were paired up, and in what order they were introduced when they were presented after Graduation."

Roisin and Alara knew bits and pieces of how it worked, thanks to mentions in some of their mother's court transcripts, but the others looked intrigued. "How does that work?"

Roisin tilted her head. "I've only heard this third-hand, so I don't know how accurate it is. Mom worked on a discrimination suit a few years back, which wound up being settled out of court, and we saw some of her research. It's partially based on power levels, and partially on your accomplishments while at Sky High. The Superhero Council analysed for compatability based off powers and methods, and paired students up based on that."

Warren frowned. "I wonder if that will change, now that the Hero-Sidekick pairing is gone?"

Melissa shrugged, rising to her feet. "Probably in some way, but since we have three minutes to get back to class, I suggest we save it for later."

 

 


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Somehow, Penny, Speed and Lash had managed to get a good lawyer who had argued that they had been fooled by Royal Pain and were acting under duress. Even more unbelievably, this led to them being let off with probation and community service.

On the bright side, it was _a lot_ of community service, and even those particularly dense few who bought the 'we-were-fooled' story remembered that they had also been bullying jerks, so pretty much their only hope was to be very, very nice to the first-generation Freshmen who didn't know any better.

As her daughters had been involved, the Pied Piper had removed herself from consideration on either side of the debate, citing personal bias. Villain or not, she did have ethical and professional standards.

Still, being excluded from the case didn't stop her from a very detailed rant over dinner, much to Warren's quiet glee. The Pied Piper usually defended Villains on principle, unless they had done something that she considered unacceptable, and always had interesting opinions.

Roisin started collecting the plates to put in the sink. "Really, the only 'fooled' involved is that Royal Pain probably downplayed the chances of anything going wrong, and how much trouble they would be in when she left them to take the fall."

Warren stood up to help her. "They probably thought that with all the bullying they got away with in the past, they wouldn't be punished for this. I don't think they realised how differently people treat Heroes and Minions."

Alara shrugged as she started running the washing-up water. "Well, they're certainly about to find out, and I don't think many of the students are going to be willing to offer the benefit of the doubt. I mean, you'll have the really stupid Heroes who will cite solidarity, and maybe a couple of very naieve Freshmen, but that's it."

Their mother's lips curved into the quiet smirk that struck terror into anyone on the wrong end of it. "Keep an eye on them. They're on high-risk probation, so even a single lapse that you can justify as 'due concern' will be enough to put them back in a cell with Royal Pain."

* * *

To many people's mixed delight and dismay, part of the Community Service was participation in Save the Citizen.

Frequently as the Citizen, if the school was running short on crash-test-dummies.

Coach Boomer had suddenly developed a very lax attitude toward requisition forms, though he had agreed to the stipulation that the lever was to be adjusted to stop short of the rotating blades. With Junior and Senior students, who needed the experience, the Trio could actually take part.

Warren and Melissa were both Juniors this year, and by luck of the draw got the first match against them. Fortunately, they were fighting in the teams that had recently started forming, so while they were restricted in equal numbers, they weren't prevented from adding Roisin to their set-up

It might have still ended badly… if the twins and their group hadn't been studying fighting styles and planning for them ever since the first match of last year. Penny didn't train outside of mandatory participation in Gym Class, and preferred to overwhelm her opponents with numbers. Speed and Lash, while they had been a formidable duo, were predictable in their tactics, and had exclusively chosen opponents who were incompatible, inexperienced, or had non-combatative powers.

Roisin, Melissa and Warren were none of the above.

Warren didn't wait for Speed and Lash to finish their opening move.

As soon as Lash gripped the pole, he threw a fireball at the arm, which impacted just as Speed reached full draw. Lash yelped and let go, which sent Speed reeling off in the wrong direction, straight into a wall.

Melissa rushed Penny, spreading a thin layer of black ice around the cheerleader, who was staying firmly on the sidelines with a pretty pout and a look of disdain. Penny's clones always came out in an aireal tumble, and promptly slipped on the ice, going down in a tangled heap. Melissa casually froze them in place.

Lash recovered from the burn, but didn't get a chance to make his next move, as Roisin used the shadow of Lash's arms to lock him in place, unable to extend the limbs. He tried to break her focus with a kick, but Warren grabbed the limb and tied it around a fake dumpster. The other leg shot toward Melissa, but she saw it coming in the reflection from the barrier and dodged, resulting in Lash kicking Penny in the head by mistake, taking her out of the equation.

Melissa froze that leg around several clones, as Speed staggered to his feet, still a little unsteady from the headlong collision with the wall, and tried to rush Roisin, as the least active member of the team. She released Lash's arms, letting Warren deal with him, and focused on the Speedster. Roisin couldn't freeze someone moving a super speed, because their shadow didn't stay in one place long enough to catch, but she could slow them down and use the shadows to distract them. Melissa repeated her trick with the black ice as Roisin sent a flurry of Shadow constructs at him.

Intangible, they couldn't actually impact him, but they served as a distraction until Melissa finished icing the floor.

Speed's hand-to-hand combat skills were even worse than Penny's, thanks to his reliance on his Super-speed and, if that failed, his build to make extensive fighting un-necessary. With Roisin levitating a few centimetres above the floor and Speed unable to gain the traction to use his build against her, the fight was over quickly.

With a full minute left on the clock, Melissa created an ice-slide under the citizen as Warren burned through the rope suspending them, then draped an arm over both girls. "We should check to see if that's a record."

Roisin grinned. "Even if it wasn't, I have to say it was very satisfying."

* * *

With the majority of students inspired by their effectiveness at defeating the former bullies, they turned their attention to the second part of their long-term plan, building a support network among the less-powered and less-famous-legacy heroes.

Hacking into the student records office wasn't hard for people who had grown up watching the Cryptographer work, and an afternoon's study resulted in a list of who should be approached first. and by whom. Thus armed, they split up.

The first three went well, with offers of mutual support when necessary and occasional study groups, but the fourth threw them for a small loop.

The twins had explained what they had in mind and why, but the sidekick shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but no. I'm going to be a solo hero, but stay so low on the radar that people only know my name by looking up the Superhero listing. Then, after a year or two, I'm going to offer early retirement, so another Superhero with a taste for glory can step in."

Alara blinked, then closed her eyes and groaned. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Her twin shrugged. "Because we were best friends with Warren, and we all knew that the fuss over being the son of Barron Battle was never going to die down while the Commander was around? We should have considered it, though."

Designing and making your own superhero costume was optional, but most students at least made an attempt, because the alternative was paying someone to design or make it for you, and no right of refusal if it turned out to make you look like a walking eyesore. Besides, it qualified as an Art Project for both Junior and Senior year.

In fairness, it was harder than it sounded. You had to choose a style and colours that not only suited you, but also wouldn't clash too badly with your sidekick or team. And that was before you took materials into account.

This year was a little different, as the improved equality between Heroes and Sidekicks meant that increasing numbers of students were making plans to work in teams, rather than as the traditional Hero/Sidekick pairing. If that was the case, you were allowed to work in a group, which was a great relief to Warren, who wasn't into fashion, and Melissa, who was good at accessories, but not so much at clothing.

Even better, Principal Powers had announced two weeks ago that if part of your team or pairing (usually in the case of siblings) was in a different year, you were permitted to work with the younger students, who would then have the option of being graded on that project when they hit the appropriate year.

With that in mind, Warren and Melissa joined Evanna and the twins in their usual spot in the Quad for lunch. Warren sat down next to Roisin as Melissa slid between the other two girls, looking relieved. "Well, the good news is: we're allowed to work with you three on the Uniforms Art Project."

Evanna frowned slightly. "What's the bad news, then?"

Warren scowled. "The bad news is: we still have to do the stupid project."

Roisin and Alara looked up from a book that on closer inspection turned out to be a sketch pad. "Well, we had a few ideas about designs for the group, if you were all still planning on being a team. We've been working on it since Principal Powers made the announcement."

Warren grinned at his girlfriend. "Do we need to do any private modelling or intimate measurements?" He laughed when Roisin blushed but gave him a cheeky wink. "Seriously, though, I don't care what it looked like as long as it functioned and isn't too colourful."

All four girls pulled a frustrated face at him, but there was a familiar glint in Evanna's eyes. "I wonder if I can use silk from the spiderworms for the costumes. Silk isn't a good fabric for summer heat or winter cold, but I'm sure if I combine it with something else…"

Melissa practically dove for a notebook. "Ooh, and accessories! I don't want just a boring utility belt like everyone else. We are going to fight crime, and look good doing it! Evanna, we can use that bracelet you designed for your Art project this year, with the strands of beads that are actually capsules."

Warren looked at the sketch the twins were working on. It actually looked decent. Maybe the project wouldn't be that bad after all. "Just no capes. I'll work on researching materials and things we can fit in the capsules."

 


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Homeroom would never be particularly exciting, but there were occasional announcements to make things interesting.

Alara thought that there was something particularly twisted about waiting until just before Finals to explain the revised criteria for Superhero rankings.

The year had passed relatively quietly, with the only real upset being the looming panic of their final exams for the year. Of course, exam panic was hardly a phenomenon limited to superheroes-in-training.

Superheroes-in-training, however, were probably the only High School students who had to worry about rankings that would have a severe impact on the rest of their lives. Students who were second-generation or more usually had a basic idea of how the Superhero rankings worked, but with the changes in superhero groupings, the way the rankings worked would probably have to change as well.

* * *

In Roisin's class, Mrs Ward waited for the muttering to stop. "Can anyone tell me what you already know about the rankings system?"

No-one moved. Some of them might know about it, but no-one wanted to be the first to admit it, in case they turned out to know more than they were supposed to, and for fear of looking like they had an unfair advantage.

Mrs Ward sighed. "In previous years, the rankings system was how Heroes and Sidekicks were paired, their place in terms of prestige, and the order in which they were given the pick of assignments. It was comprised of several aspects of schooling, including grades, practical performance, and various extra credit accumulated throughout their years at Sky High."

Several of the students, who had been slightly lackluster in at least one of those areas, suddenly looked apprehensive. Roisin raised a hand, "I assume you're going to tell us how things have now changed?"

Mrs Ward nodded. "Yes. Now, the collective scores, whether working solo or as part of a team will be added up, and divided by the number of people in the group. This means that if you are working solo, you will be relying on your own score. If you are working as a team, you will be graded on the mean score of your group. Consider it practice for working in the field."

Roisin considered this development, trying to ignore the considering looks from a few other students, who looked like they were reconsidering their choice of team-mates. On the one hand, it made things more fair than if students had been graded on the total team scores. On the other, it was another mark toward the exclusion of students who might not perform as well academically. Besides, while there were several opportunities to earn extra credit, including assisting the teachers, clubs and so on, there might not be enough for everyone who wanted to sign up to make up the difference in their other grading.

Under the table, Roisin sent a shadow-messenger to her friends, just in case they hadn't got the memo, and resolved to look at the extra-curricular activities between Homeroom and her next class.

She wondered if the battles against Royal Pain or the Clowns last summer would count.

* * *

Exams passed with minimal fuss, and only one or two of the team changes for average-score advantage that Roisin had been worried about. Nevertheless, the situation was similar enough to Royal Pain's origins that Roisin started working on a technological program to keep an eye on them. There was no point in taking chances, especially now that former-sidekicks had a role-model in delayed revenge for being underestimated and stuck as a Sidekick when they believed that they deserved better (and probably did). Ego was not a problem that only affected the former Hero track.

* * *

Despite Warren's misgivings about Superhero uniforms (and to be fair, there had been no shortage of badly-designed ones by Heroes with more ego than fashion sense), they even managed to score well on their final Art Project and exam (which was really just what you did in the process of completing your Art Project).

The good thing about designing your own Superhero costume as an Art Project was that for Junior year, you only had to come up with a basic concept and design, with extra credit points if you actually made one. If a group chose to carry the project over to senior year, when your team of choice was locked in, you had to actually make a prototype, which the entire team had to agree on before submitting it.

In this case, the fact that Warren and Melissa were a year ahead of the others actually worked to the group's advantage, giving them far more time to plan, and with the younger three being graded on the Art project they had submitted with older two, they could spend more time working on materials.

With the changing dynamics of Superhero teams, and the fact that the teams weren't finalised until Senior year, students were given extensions or the ability to change designs if their team changed.

In many of the lower-powered students' opinions, this was a far better situation than letting the Hero you had been assigned choose a costume for you.

Roisin and Alara had done the main designs for the costume, which had turned out to be a lot harder than it sounded. Evanna had an acrobat's figure, slender and slight, with few curves to speak of, and the bodysuit favoured by most heroines would make her look like a young boy. The twins were the other extreme, with too many curves to make a bodysuit look good. Melissa and Warren could pull it off, technically, but both of them totally rejected the idea of a bodysuit alone.

On top of that, having just a bodysuit was boring. They needed to tailor the costumes to reflect the individual, but still keep make them look similar enough for a team.

Finally, they managed to hit on something that worked.

An afternoon at the fabric shop and the Pied Piper taking a weekend off to teach them how to use her old sewing machine, produced what they considered to be a fairly decent result.

Individually-tailored bodysuits, in a sleek black material, were the base design, which they then added to and adjusted for the individuals.

For Warren, they merely added an open, knee-length jacket to his bodysuit, with stylised flames embroidered with coloured thread and copper beads on the cuffs and forearms. His belt was links of red and gold flames, like a wall of fire.

The girls had identical costumes: a basic bodysuit, with bands of colour around the collar and waist, but with two wide strips of fabric attached to the belt at front and back, like a double-slitted skirt, extending to mid-calf. Standing in place, it looked like a dress and leggings, but it allowed for much easier movement. It took some extra practice to do kicks and spins without getting tangled, but it looked fantastic.

Melissa had come through in spades as far as accessories went. Rather than wearing bulky utility belts (which were a pain in the backside to put on when you were changing in a hurry) Melissa had gone for something that could be worn in everyday life, as well as in costume.

For the girls there was a decorative hairclip that was actually a knife-sheath, and a bracelet that looked like strings of different sized beads on leather strands. In reality, the largest size beads were actually capsules, containing everything from a net made from fibers as fine as spiderwebs and weighed down with tiny lead beads around the edges, to a flash-grenade, to small explosives.

All of them wore Venetian-style masks, like the ones they had grabbed when the Killer Clowns attacked. The masks were made of supple leather, able to be folded up and tucked into a pocket or purse, also black and to eventually be decorated in their signature colours. Evanna and Ethan had plans for some kind of high-tech mesh to cover the eye holes, but again, that was for next year.

Warren had flatly refused a bracelet or hair ornament, and designed a leather cuff with a concealed sheath and metal studs in the outline of a phoenix, the studs actually serving the same function as the larger beads on the girl's bracelets.

It still needed work, and to be tailored to the individual, but most of them were enthusiastic enough about the project that they would probably have that finished by the end of Summer.

* * *

Evanna had been in charge of materials for when they made the prototype, and despite being a sidekick, had long since proven herself to be brilliant at Mad Science, especially when it came to experiments on combining DNA. The fact of the matter was that of the five of them, only Warren could really pull off body armor, and anything more than a Kevlar vest limited your range of movement. The obvious solution, at least to Evanna if not to anyone else, was to create a new fabric entirely.

For that, she enlisted Layla's plant know-how and Ethan's Mad Science genius, in exchange for sharing enough of whatever material they managed to create with the team that Ethan and Layla ended up on. (As though that were not already obvious)

Together, the three of them eventually managing to combine Russian flax with Tasmanian blackwood, a strong but easily-worked wood, to produce strong, light and flexible fibres, ready for weaving. With the addition of the silk from the spiderworm that Evanna had accidentally created in Freshman year in the weaving process, it created a fabric that had the durability of body armour, but was as easy to wear as any normal piece of clothing, if slightly heavier.

There were drawbacks, of course, but that was to be expected. For starters, the plant could only be cultivated in arctic-like temperatures, achieved by clearing out the garden shed for a few days, having Melissa freeze it as cold as she could and using a very rugged-up Layla to speed the growth cycle up to an hour, rather than the months it would normally take.

The fact that Layla could only make plants grow for a short period before they returned to their previous state (which explained why she had to renew the Stronghold family's house plants every few days), meant that they had to grow small sections, harvest them as quickly as possible, and take a break for a hot drink. Needless to say, it was slow going.

Another drawback was that the material (produced with the help of a retired former sidekick named Arachne, who could turn almost any natural material into the corresponding fabric in about five seconds) was a dark grey, which proved very stubbornly resistant to colourful dyes, and most superheroes preferred to run around in colours. Likewise, it took almost three months for the limited number of spiderworms to produce enough silk for one superhero costume, even using a blended fabric, let alone five.

There was also the fact that they had to be kept in Warren's apartment, the size of which limited the amount of spiderworms that could be produced at any one time. They could have increased production by keeping the spiderworms with one of the girls, but Melissa's house had too many people to keep the spiderworms under wraps, Evanna's mother refused to allow experimental breeding in her house, and Alara had freaked out over the spiderworms' eating habits.

But, the fabric was possible, and Evanna took the Pied Piper's advice to patent it immediately. If it caught on, there were enough superheroes (and elite military forces) in the world to make a very tidy profit, if she ever got enough spiderworms to make mass-production a viable idea.

 

 


	20. Chapter Ninteen

Melissa had a problem.

Warren and Roisin had come out as an official couple just on the last day of term, largely because they hadn't bothered to announce anything the previous summer, when they had actually started dating after the Clown Incident. Melissa suspected that they only announced it now because they were getting sick of people asking them out under the impression that they were still single.

Timing it for the last day of the school year just meant that no-one had the chance to bother them about it, after a kitten made of flames trotted into Roisin's post-lunch class with a heart-shaped box of her favourite chocolates. Melissa suspected that they had planned it that way, since Warren's gestures of affection were ususally a lot more subtle.

Melissa was happy for her friends, obviously, but she was also feeling rather conflicted. She had been attracted to Warren since Power Placement in their freshman year, though she never had the courage to approach him. The control he had over his fire, despite his temper… ok, maybe Melissa had a bit of a competency kink.

When the twins started the next year and everyone saw how they and Warren interacted together, her hopes sunk. They were just so natural together, and Roisin was the only one that anyone had known Warren to actually initiate physical contact with. Who could compete with that?

Adding to her problems was that puberty had kicked in _hard_ between Freshman and Sophomore years, and Melissa was in a school full of super-powered, hormone-ridden teenagers. Normal teenagers were bad enough, but when a hot-shot with laser-vision could zap your bum from outside of slapping range, or a boy with multiple arms could claim that he 'slipped'… well.

Most of those incidents settled down after said hot-shot had been frozen on the lawn for two days (Principal Powers had dealt with enough casual misogyny and harassment during her active days to be in favour of teens learning things like 'no means no' and 'consequences' as soon as possible). It became even rarer when she started spending time with the Villain kids, as they had been dubbed, and Melissa's crush had shifted.

Melissa had been six when she had her first crush on a girl, and two months shy of seven when she had her first crush on a boy. It hadn't taken long to figure out that plumbing had very little effect on who she fell for, until they got to second base.

Roisin held her head high in the face of scorn, and had an elegance and flair when she used her power, constantly testing the limits, that Melissa had rarely seen. When the brunette trusted someone enough to open up, she was loyal and witty and surprisingly kind, and Melissa felt herself falling.

At the same time, she never quite stopped admiring Warren, who was fierce and proud and breathtaking when he fought. Dancing together at Homecoming brought all of those feelings roaring back, and she had spent the next year feeling incredibly fickle as she tried to figure out which one she liked more. Melissa didn't want to ruin their friendship or the team dynamic by confessing her feelings, but she had also seen the result of enough unspoken loves to not want to put herself through that misery, either.

Besides, the sooner she owned up, the sooner they could work on a way to deal with it.

* * *

Alara adored Warren as her brother, and had admired the asthetics of male celebrities a few times.

She had never felt attraction toward any of them. Female celebrities and pretty girls, on the other hand, made her feel warm and fluttery. Athletic blondes made Alara suspect that she had a very definate type.

Evanna was friendly and full of untapped potential, making Alara suspect that the shifter would be stunning when she gained confidence in herself. Alara wanted to be there when that happened, especially if that confidence involved any revelations about which team Evanna played for.

She didn't seem _opposed_ to same-sex relationships, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Plenty of people could be as straight as a bargepole, and still be sensible about sexuality.

The main problem was that Alara had absolutely no idea of how to go about approaching the object of her affection. Roisin had been throwing discreet glances at Melissa lately, and Alara had caught her twin looking at support websites for alternate relationships, so maybe she would have a few ideas…

* * *

In a way, it was almost gratifying when Warren discovered that he was still prone to the kind of relationship drama most teenagers fell subject to.

Having hit puberty under the care of a mother who had very strong opinions about consent, Warren received a very thorough education on sexuality and relationships, despite living in a state whose education standards in that area were spectacularly dismal. This was re-enforced by having an Aunt who felt equally strongly and defended rape victims in court pro-bono.

Judges in states with pathetically lenient laws on sexual assault whimpered when the Pied Pier entered their courtroom, and Warren knew for a fact that the Cryptographer had hacked into law databases on more than one occasion, creating a discrepency between the digital and paper laws, then leaking the information to advocacy groups. Often, it was the little things that caused the biggest changes.

Fortunately for Warren, the Pied Piper didn't actually _want_ to do painful, horrifying things to him for hurting her daughter (or any other girl) out of ignorance, and made sure to elaborate on the basics his mother had covered. Warren still cringed at the memory, though the talk about different types of sexual orientation and non-traditional relationships were very informative.

Thanks to this unususally-thorough education, Warren's anxiety over being attracted to two girls at the same time was less worry that he was being unfaithful, and more uncertainty over what the girls in question thought about multi-person romances. Roisin had endured the same Talk that he had, albeit slightly later, and probably wouldn't freak out about it, but he didn't want to hurt her by making her feel inadequate, either. He had no idea about what Melissa would think.

Being with Roisin felt natural, and he knew with a certainty that he would always love her. For all that Melissa's powers were the direct opposite of his, their personalities were similar; passionate and loyal, and he liked her a lot. Roisin would stand up for others in a heartbeat, but rarely put herself forward to express what she wanted, especially with people she cared about. Melissa was better with spoken communication, but wouldn't even broach the subject while he was still with Roisin.

* * *

Evanna wasn't a very sexual person, nor was she particularly inclined toward romantic feelings or crushes on random celebrities.

Alara was the exception.

Perhaps it had started as gratitude and affection for a person who faced down the bullies who made Evanna's life hell between classes, but Evanna's feelings had quickly escalated beyond that. She didn't think she was imagining the shy glances Alara had been aiming at her lately, either.

It was summer now, the perfect time to play her hand without all of Sky High finding out adding it to the arsenal many of them already had against her. Better yet, their friend group would be meeting up whenever they could.

Her parents, still in the dark about Evanna's preferences, had relaxed their stance on letting her spend time with the Pied Piper and Baron Battle's children, since Evanna had pointed out that if she was spending time with her friends, she wouldn't be sneaking off to see boys.

Warren was very much a boy, but he was also very much off the market.

Well, Evanna had always been a fan of psyching herself up and going after her goals, and this would be no exception, as long as she could get Alara alone to talk.

* * *

Roisin had liked Melissa ever since the cyrokinetic had expressed support for her in the wake of Isolde's betrayal.

As a pre-teen, it hadn't taken long for Roisin to put the pieces together and realise that all of her crushes had been on people she had a strong emotional connection to. Warren was the first person she had wanted _that_ kind of physical contact with, and lately she had found herself wondering what it would be like for Melissa to touch her in similar ways.

The twins had undergone the same explicitly-detailed Talk that Warren had endured, followed by Roisin doing some research of her own. Words like 'Demisexual', 'non-hetero-normative' and 'Polyamory' had resonated particularly strongly.

The problem was that just because Roisin was open to non-traditional relationships, didn't mean that Warren or Melissa were, and it didn't take a genius to know that such conversations could be deal-breakers. She had caught Warren sending admiring looks at Melissa on occasion, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Still, Roisin had always confronted her problems head on, even if it wasn't always the best idea. In a rare bout of self-conciousness, she talked it over with her twin before she spoke to the other people involved, hoping for advice and/or sympathy.

* * *

Alara had no advice to offer, but since she was in the midst of a similar situation, they had a brainstorming session. Actual solutions remained elusive, but at least they managed to come up with a plan of action for the next time their friend group managed to get together.

The Pied Piper and the Cryptographer were out at a work function, but trusted their children not to wreck the house if they had a few friends over. Being Supers, things being scorched, frozen or unexpectedly soaked were overlooked, as long as any permanent damage was dealt with before the adults got home.

Warren was the first to arrive, straight from the afternoon shift at the Paper Lantern and weighed down with takeout. "Mrs Wu thinks I haven't been eating enough for a growing boy, and plied me with leftovers. Mind if I use the shower?"

Roisin waved a hand. "Go ahead. Toss your things outside the door and I'll run them through the wash. Melissa texted to say that they were delayed in sneaking Evanna out of the house."

Normally even a rush cycle on the washing machine would take at least fifteen minutes, but Warren was known to take more care of personal hygiene than most teenage boys. Today was apparently the exception, as he appeared downstairs in a towel right as Evanna and Melissa walked through the door. Evanna raised an eyebrow and opened a cupboard to collect bowls for dinner. Melissa turned a lovely shade of pink, matching the faint tinge on Warren's cheeks. Luckily, the washing machine made a beeping noise, and Warren dashed for the laundry.

Drying the clothes was a task of only a few seconds for a pyrokinetic, and the youth re-joined them quickly. Melissa's eyes were still a little glazed whenever she caught Warren's eye, but they managed a fairly normal conversation.

Afterward, Alara led Evanna out to the garden under the pretext of having a few ideas about mass-producing the spider-worms, and the other three headed upstairs.

Warren dropped into the swivel-chair at Roisin's desk, while the two girls claimed the bed. Melissa grinned, though it seemed ever-so-slightly forced. "I sense a serious talk coming on."

Roisin tried not to fidget. "In a sense. Just… let me finish before you say anything."

They both nodded, Warren abandoning the chair to sit beside her. The brunette tried to phrase what she wanted to say in her head, failed, and blurted it out. "Melissa, I love Warren, but I'm also really attracted to you, and I don't want it to ruin any of our friendships."

To her mild surprise, both of them instantly relaxed. Melissa let out a deep sigh, "Oh, good. I thought it was just me."

Warren blinked. "You mean I've spent the past week trying to decide how to even start this conversation, and all the time I had nothing to worry about?"

Roisin considered. "Well, not nothing. Three-way relationships take a lot of communication and negotiating, even more than normal relationships. You and I definitely need to work on that part."

Melissa giggled. "So, does that mean you're both willing to give it a try?"

Warren flashed her an almost-blinding grin. "Very willing, though we'll need to think about how we present it. Society as a whole still isn't very accepting."

Melissa nodded. "Not to mention that you and I graduate in less than a year, and there are enough sceptics that we don't need to add more hurdles to our being accepted as Heroes."

Roisin kissed her lightly, tugging Warren into a three-way hug. "We already think that our relationships are none of anyone else's business, and we're rarely out of company anyway. Who knows, if we gain enough popularity, we might even be able to gain support for alternate relationships under the law."

Warren grinned. "Well, in the Superhero community, popularity is protection. That's a long-term plan, though. How long do you think we have before Alara and Evanna get back?"

Roisin glanced out her window into the garden, smirking faintly. "By the look of things, a while. They look like things are progressing nicely."

Warren ended up with Melissa lying on top of him as they both tried to lunge for the window at the same time, and over-balanced, getting a glimpse of the tow girls kissing on the way down. Roisin laughed at them, which quickly turned into a squeal as Warren tugged her down to join them. Melissa wrapped an arm around her. "By the way, I love you too."

 

 


	21. Epilogue

Their time at Sky High seemed like it had lasted both eternity, and no time at all. Now, Graduation was upon them, in a flurry of preparation for life as an Active SuperheroThe Cryptographer had been more than pleased to help them set up a digital network for Heroes to keep in touch and help each other out when necessary.

First-Year Heroes had a very high burn-out rate, in no small part due to how hard it was to get a sick-day or personal leave when villains could strike at any time. A centralised way for non-active Heroes (there were always more graduates than open positions) to cover for active ones who needed a break would be a great deal of help.

Warren and Melissa, now seniors, spent their very limited free time reaching out to their less-traditional, open-minded classmates, offering the opportunity to be linked into the back-up network. Perhaps it was cold or unfair not to make it an open invitation to everyone, but there were a few Heroes-to-be that the five friends (They really would need to come up with a better collective name soon) felt would do better on the early retirement list.

Despite a fairer punishment system that was actually enforced, every year still held a few students who made a habit of abusing their powers and not getting caught, or thought that their abilities or heritage made them deserving of special treatment beyond just attending an exclusive school for Superheroes. Selfishness and Glory-Seeking had no place in a job where you risked your life to defend the public, and while many of the over-entitled Heroes were often retired by the Superhero Council when they spent too much time complaining about not getting the recognition that they 'deserved', citizens still got hurt in the process.

Of course, there was also the fact that Senior Year was _busy,_ and when students had spare time, they rarely wanted to spend it talking about more super logistics. Classes alone were a heavy workload, and most had part-time jobs by this point. There was also seemingly-endless paperwork to fill out for the Department of Superheroes (A sub-section of the Military, members of whom formed the three civilian seats on the Superhero Council).

It was paperwork for the kind of thing that everyone expected to be part of Superhero life, and therefore gave no thought to. Secret Identities and everything associated with them, including jobs and housing. Superhero Identities and everything associated with _that,_ including code-names, uniforms, and when they would start Hero work.

Previously, the choices had been limited to starting active work right after graduation, or taking a gap year to settle into your secret identity. With the new system of Solo work, traditional pairings or Teams, that had been changed, too.

For now, at least, the wider group of friends were gathered on the Quad, eating lunch and providing moral support for Warren and Melissa. The Pyro closed his eyes, "Better options than last year, but they all still suck."

Will looked up from his sandwich, "What options?"

Melissa, deep in her own thoughts, jerked in surprise. Alara passed a hand over the paper, pulling the water in the ink off the paper. It formed a tiny ball in mid-air, which she flicked at Will. "They'll need to know for next year, just like we will."

Oh, right, that was another thing on Warren's plate: How to break it to Will and his friends that they would be a team of five next year, when Warren and Melissa joined Evanna and the twins. He would be their ally, but not their team-mate. In the meantime, he passed over his half-completed form, resting his head on Riona's lap.

Zach squinted at it, "What are all these? ' _Solo/Temp. Solo/Team/Gap (please choose only one) If Gap, Buddy Y/N?' 'Active/Administration? Preferred Uniform materials?_ There are a lot of questions. _"_

Warren rolled his eyes, "Stuff that the Department of Superheroes needs to know before we graduate, so that the Superhero Council can get started on organising us."

Riona ran her fingers through his hair, her leg pressing against Melissa's as she read over her girlfriend's shoulder. "There's an entire section on Secret Identities, too. And another one on known enemies, including inherited ones. That's going to be fun to fill out."

Layla blinked. "Why? I mean, there are a few people who don't like you, but…"

Alara stared at the red-head. "Our mother is the Pied Piper, best known for being the most successful prosecution against superheroes in the country. There are a lot of Heroes and Former Heroes who would love to get back at her."

Ethan hastily changed the topic, "I suppose the 'Temporary Solo' is for people who are planning to be in a team, but their future team-mates haven't graduated yet?"

Melissa nodded, "It was originally only an option for siblings, but they opened it up when they changed the rules about Heroes working in pairs. Warren and I will be taking a gap year, and spend that time opening a small business. Cover stories for sudden absences are so much easier when you're self-employed."

* * *

Graduation from Superhero Academy took place in two parts. There was the ceremony at Superhero Academy itself, for the students and their parents to attend, followed by a presentation/press conference at City Hall in Washington DC, where the mayor would introduce them and the media would take pictures and ask questions. The main difference was that while at the graduation ceremony students were called in alphabetical order, at the presentation they were introduced by ranking.

Your grades at Superhero Academy were combined with points for any hero-like feats you had taken part in, and added to those of the rest of your team. Penalties for infractions while at Superhero Academy lost points, and some students complained, but most agreed that it was better than being introduced in order of social popularity.

That was important, because there were typically between thirty and forty students per year (more, if your partner/group was spread out over year-groups), so if you included interviews, it usually took a minimum of two hours, and with the presentation being broadcast live, the heroes who were presented first got the most attention. By the time you were halfway down the list, the attention of the media and the viewers started to wander. By three-quarters of the way through, most viewers had wandered off for a snack or a drink or to stretch their legs, and the last few to be presented were usually doomed to a career of "…er, which hero are you again?"

Thanks to their actions in fighting Royal Pain in their Freshman Year, Will, Layla, Zach, Magenta and Ethan were automatic firsts.

Riona, Alara and Evanna – along with Warren and Melissa, who had delayed presentation until the other three finished High School – had played a lesser role in the Royal Pain fiasco, and received a head start because of that. The fights against bullies had lost them points, but taking the top three places in hand-to-hand, concealed weaponry and costumes, plus Evanna's Mad Science grades had more than made up for it, placing them at a close second.

Larry, Alec and James (the shrimp who turned into a stone giant, the boy with acid-spit, and the mimc), along with Larry's geokinetic older sister, would be after them, and the rest of their year in bits and pieces.

Waiting backstage, Will, dressed in a bodysuit of red, white and blue, practically a miniture of his father's costume, clapped Warren on the shoulder. "It's a shame you won't be working with us, but it'll be great to finally get out there and start helping people, don't you think?"

Sometimes Warren wondered how his friend had survived High School, with that attitude, when he didn't even have Layla's innate sweetness to temper the naivety. "Yeah, sure."

Luckily, an aide appeared to tell Will and his friends, soon to be known as 'The Champions', that they were on in two minutes. Layla, in a green dress and full-faced mask that looked like a feminine version of the Greenman, collared the other two boys (dressed in mottled bodysuits in their signature eye-searing colours, the end result of which could only be described as 'camouflage' in the sense that no-one could look at it for long) and caught Magenta's eye. The shape-shifter looked as bored and uncaring as she ever did, dressed in a bodysuit and miniskirt, but walked over anyway, just in time for the team to be called.

The mayor was acting more like a sports announcer, hamming it up for the cameras. Riona was fairly sure that was why he had been elected in the first place, since it certainly hadn't been due to any degree of competence. "First, please welcome The Champions: Eagle, Demeter, Luminos, Violet and Aesar!"

Eagle was obviously Will, Demeter just as obviously Layla. Jack-Attack had been shot down as a codename, much to the taller boy's disappointment, and replaced with Luminos. Like Speed and Lash, Magenta had gone with a nickname since before Superhero Academy, and continued using it as a codename. Ethan's codename had required a bit of research, but was discovered to be the name of a company that had compiled and published the melting points of elements.

Warren and the girls didn't pay attention to the flurry of media questions, muffled by the closed doors anyway, busy making sure that they looked immaculate and confident. Finally (well over the five minute time limit for media questions), the mayor made his next announcement. "Now, The Guardians: Phoenix!"

Warren leaped onto the podium, fire dancing around his upper body in the shape of wings. His father had suggested the name, as the firebird both related to his powers, and implied that he was rising above his father's reputation. The wings had taken several weeks of practice to perfect, but the cheers echoing around the hall proved that it had been worth the effort.

He took his place in the center of the stage as the mayor continued. "Shadow Queen, Tsunami, Snow Queen and Naiad!"

Riona soared up on a wave of shadows to stand at Warren's right, Evanna in ball-form hidden behind her back, changing in a split-second so that it looked like she had appeared out of nowhere (She had chosen the name 'Tsunami' because people rarely saw her coming) to take her place on Riona's other side. Melissa created an ice-slide for her and Alara, the second twin using her power to turn the slide into a moving work of art.

Each girl had added their own touch to their costumes. Riona didn't really have a signature colour, so her costume was trimmed in dark grey and silver, covered in subtle embroidery that made it look as though she was shrouded in living shadows. Evanna's costume was plain black, trimmed in white and wintergreen. Melissa (on Warren's left) had a trim of white and silver, with white embroidery over the skirt like flurries of snow against a night sky. Alara, next to Melissa, wore the same plain black as Evanna, with an aquamarine, white and royal blue trim, with opaque beading giving the effect of moving water.

All five wore venetian-style masks, black with edging and a shoulder-length veil (for the girls) in their signature colour, vocal transmitters hidden under the edging and almost-transparent mesh that could be turned on to infra-red and x-ray vision covering they eyes.

The overall effect was designed to draw attention away from their physical features, to make them harder to recognise in their secret identity. Judging by the cheers (and a few near-swoons) from the crowd, they looked good.

Then came the media questions. Luckily, the Pied Piper and Inferno had done some rehearsing with Warren and the Twins, so they got through the questions about their parents with no more than a hint of gritted teeth. The question from the teen gossip magazine didn't come as a surprise either (there had been a relationship poll and a top-five poll in last week's edition). "Phoenix, are you in a relationship with any of your team-mates?"

Warren managed not to roll his eyes or to take his girlfriends' hands. It was too much of a risk, to reveal their relationship, but they had already agreed on a plan to prevent the press actually stalking them (and potentially endangering themselves in the process) for answers. "Figured you'd ask that at some point."

Riona stepped forward to answer. "Actually, all of us are currently in relationships, but in exchange for privacy, we Will let you know of any big developments in those relationships, and you can do a few polls and opinion pieces. Your readers Will enjoy that, I think."

Melissa (probably the favourite choice in the upcoming magazine poll) giggled quietly as the gossip magazines practically fainted with glee, and even the more news-oriented papers looked pleased. The rest of the questions were routine ones, over quickly, and it was time for them to exit and the next team to be called up.

They managed to hold their fixed smiles, waving politely until they made it off-stage, at which point Alara slumped against the wall. "Glad that's over. At least we have some time to kill before the class photo and celebratory reception."

Warren and Riona gave each other a significant look. That was good, because it gave them plenty of time to sneak their building application for a secret sanctum renovation to an existing house into the approval pile. The Head of the Department of Supers, whose main job was to be the representative of the Superhero Council in government, had final review, but tended to assume that if something was in his inbox for approval, it had probably already been read and approved by the sub-departments who knew more about building than he did. The team had planned for Riona and Warren to pull off the task for two reasons.

First, it would be the work of moments for Riona to transport the application from a shadow outside the office into the shadow cast by the tall pile of documents awaiting the stamp of approval. Inside information said that it would go through without question.

Once approval had been given, the twins had convinced their father to put the details behind the strongest firewall he and Mech-Girl could invent. It wasn't unusual for the smarter villains to try and hack into the database, and the Guardians wouldn't put it past certain members of the press, either.

They had decided on a house with enough rooms to share, rather than an apartment in a block. In the unlikely event of a Supervillain finding their location, it was better to avoid casualties whose only crime was to live in the same building, and it cut down on security risks. With their address on lockdown, probably the worst they would face would be door-to-door salespeople, and Alara and Evanna were already working on a plan to deal with those.

Training was over, and it was time to step into the real world.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> OK, I'm fairly new to writing Sky High fanfiction, so constructive criticism is very welcome. It is also my first attempt at a 'Dark' fic.
> 
> Basically, this is exploring the ramifications of people acting as if Warren was already a Villain, or what often happens to people who suffer excessive bullying during their school years. Look up 'Self-fulfilling prophecies'. 
> 
> For all non-law people, when applying for parole with a Life Sentence, parole can be granted after twenty five years. Since Baron Battle is eligible for parole after his 'third Life', that means seventy-five years.


End file.
